Duelist of the Roses
by Kira-Tsukasa
Summary: After losing his parents, Brian Matthews moves to the city of Domino. But when a mysterious eighth Millenium Item is found, he finds himself being drawn into a fight to save the world where everyone he loves could be torn from his life forever.
1. New Duelist on the Block

Ok I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters. I do ownmy original character, Brian Matthews, whom I created for this story. Any resemblance to a real person or persons is pure coincidence. I'm a bit behind in the episodes so don't get mad at inaccurate decks for where you are in the show. We begin our story a few days after Yugi defeated Duke Develin at his own game, Dungeon Dice Monsters. It takes place first person from Brian. Updates will be posted inmy profile so check back there for update information. Please read, review, and enjoy.

Chapter 1: New Duelist on the Block

"Hi, my name is Brian Matthews. It's nice to meet all of you," I said. It was my first day at my new school. I was a little nervous because this was the first time I had been in this town and I didn't know very many people. Alright, so I didn't know anyone. But, these kids looked nice enough, maybe I could make some new friends.

I walked over and took a seat next to a girl with brown hair. I looked over at her and she smiled when she saw me looking at her. I felt my face start to turn red so I turned away to hide it. "She's kinda cute," I thought. "Who am I kidding? I barely know her. Still, she seems pretty nice."

The rest of the morning went well, as far as school goes that is. At lunch I saw the girl from class, so I thought I'd go over and talk to her.

"Excuse me. Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked her.

"Sure go ahead. I'm waiting for a few of my friends. You can join us if you want," she replied. "Oh, here they come."

A few moments later three boys came over to the table. "Hey, Téa, who's this?" one of them asked. He was tall and had light brown hair. I presumed Téa was the girl I met.

"This is Brian. He's new here," Téa said. "Brian, these are my friends."

The boy with light brown hair spoke up first. "My name's Joey Wheeler. You might remember me from the Duelist Kingdom tournament. I got second place."

"Yeah, it shows just how lucky someone can get," said the second boy. He was a bit taller than Joey, but had dark brown hair.

"Hey! Watch it, Tristan! I'll take you on right here and now!" Joey shouted at him.

"Uh…shouldn't someone stop them?" I asked.

"Don't mind them. They're always like that. I'm Yugi Moto," the third boy said. He was shorter than the others and wore a strange pendant around his neck.

"Wait, the same Yugi Moto that won the Duelist Kingdom tournament? I've read about you in a bunch of magazines and websites," I said.

"What have you read about me?" Joey piped in.

"Well, nothing," I replied.

"What? Aw, man…" Joey responded.

"You're into Duel Monsters then, right?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'm pretty good in a duel, too," I said.

We talked about different things in town until the bell rang to go back to class, so we got up and went back to class. The rest of the day went by pretty quick and soon school was over. On my way out of the building Téa caught up with me and told me that Yugi's grandfather had a game shop and that they were going to hang out there later. She asked me to come and I agreed. I stopped at home first and changed clothes, then went to the shop. When I got there everyone was waiting for me. Yugi greeted me.

"Hi, Brian. This is my grandpa's game shop," he said.

"Nice place. You guys hang out here a lot?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're here all the time," Téa said. "Hey, I never got a chance to ask where you are from."

"I'm from New York," I replied.

"Wow, really? So what are you doing here?" Tristan asked.

"My parents passed away recently and I had to move in with my older sister, Paige," I told them.

"Oh, that's awful. I'm so sorry," Téa responded.

"You said you were into Duel Monsters, so I was wondering if you had a deck." Yugi said, changing the subject.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I do. I have a lot of rare and powerful cards. My deck contains some of the most powerful cards in the game," I told him.

"Sounds like a challenge. I'd like a chance to go up against that deck," Yugi said.

"You saying you want to duel him, Yug?" Joey asked him.

"Sure am. So how about it, Brian?" Yugi responded.

"A chance to duel with a champion would be an honor. I accept your challenge, Yugi!" I said.

"But where are you gonna go?" Joey asked. "It's kinda crowded here."

"Well we could go ask Duke if we could use his duel arena," Tea offered. "Or we could go see if Mokuba has an open arena for the day."

"Duke or Mokuba? Who are they?" I wondered.

"Oh, that's right. Brian's never met them," Téa said. "Duke Develin owns the game shop on the next block. He invented the Dungeon Dice Monsters game. Mokuba is Seto Kaiba's little brother."

"Ok, I'm not sure I'm following all this, but if Duke is closer, I say go there," I told them.

Everyone agreed that Duke's game shop was more accessible so we went there. At first I was expecting a table with a dueling board on it, but when we arrived and I saw how big the shop itself was, I quickly changed my mind. His shop was huge. It had to be at least three stories tall.

"Whoa. This place is incredible!" I exclaimed.

"The duel arenas are down stairs," Yugi told me.

"Hey there, Yugi!" Someone said. He had black hair that he wore with a headband. He also had an earring with a die on it.

"Hey, Duke. Do you mind if we use one of your dueling arenas?" Yugi asked him.

"Sure, but there are new rules that had to be uploaded to the arenas," Duke said.

"New rules? I've never heard about any new rules," Tristan replied.

"Yeah not too many people have. These new rules came from America. Each duelist starts with 8000 life points and fusion monsters can't attack in the same turn that they are summoned. Also a new type of summon is thrown in. It's called a Tribute Summon," Duke explained.

"Level five and six monsters require one monster as a tribute and any monster of level seven or higher need two," I continued for him. Everyone turned to look at me. "Is something wrong, guys?"

"How did you know that? We've never even heard of the new rules and you seem to be a master of them," Joey responded.

"They're from America remember? I've grown up on these rules," I told them.

After the explanation, they lead me to the arena that we were going to use. The arena looked more like a stadium. The table, as I thought it was, was actually a state of the art, holographic arena, using the Kaiba Corp technology.

"Ok you guys ready? You can begin anytime. You'll go first Yugi," Duke announced.

"Don't you have to run the shop Duke?" Téa asked him.

"No way. Yugi, one of the top duelists who's trying out brand new rules, against a new guy who seems to have already mastered them. This isn't something I want to miss," Duke said.

"Ready, Brian?" Yugi asked me. Something was different about him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. He drew a card then announced his first move. "I summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian in attack position."

"Let's see…your Obnoxious Celtic Guardian is unaffected by attacks of 1900 or higher," I thought out loud. "So, I'll summon Blackland Fire Dragon. Now my dragon, destroy his Guardian with your Fire Breath Attack!" The fire from my dragon's mouth surrounded and engulfed Yugi's warrior and, when the fire vanished, Yugi's monster vanished with it, along with 100 of his life points. "One more thing before I'm done, Yugi. I set one card face down."

"That was a good move." Yugi replied. "Now I'll summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior in defense position and set one card face down. Your move."

"Your Magnet Warrior only has 1800 defense power. My next monster can handle that. I summon Luster Dragon!" This was my next move. My Luster Dragon had 1900 attack points. "I also activate my trap card, Dragon's Rage. Normally when your monster is destroyed in defense position you don't lose life points, but this trap card changes that for all of my attacking dragons. Luster Dragon, go and destroy Gamma with your Sapphire Crush Claw!" The monster attacked and Gamma fell. Another 100 of Yugi's life points dropped as well. After that Blackland Fire Dragon took another 1500 from him. Yugi only had 6300 left.

"Wow," I heard Téa say from the sidelines. "Who would have thought that Yugi would be at a disadvantage here?"

"It's not over yet," Joey told her. "Yug's just getting started."

"My turn." Yugi said. "I summon Kuriboh in defense position. Then I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your trap card. That's all for this turn."

"Not bad Yugi. I summon Lord of Dragons in attack position. Now, Blackland Fire Dragon, destroy his Kuriboh!" I watched my dragon attack, but instead of being destroyed, Kuriboh multiplied into five copies!

"Surprised? My magic card, Multiply, makes duplicates of my Kuriboh." Yugi proclaimed. I destroyed two of his Kuribohs with my other monsters and ended my turn. Next it was Yugi's move. After he drew, I saw a slight smile form on his face. "My next move is Card Destruction! It forces both of us to discard our hands and draw new ones." We both complied, I drew four cards and Yugi drew three. "I sacrifice one of my Kuriboh and summon Dark Magician Girl! And I'll use her to destroy your Lord of Dragons. Dark Magician Girl, attack with Dark Burning Magic!" The attack cost me my monster and 800 life points.

I drew and looked at what I had in my hand. Thanks to Yugi's Card Destruction I held my Dark Magician and Buster Blader. All I needed was one more card… "I play Swords of Revealing Light! I'm sure you know how this works, Yugi?" He nodded. I then destroyed his remaining Kuriboh with my two monsters.

Yugi drew then summoned Big Shield Gardna in defense position. One turn down, two to go. I drew a card then pondered what to do. "Armed Dragon LV3? Not what I was looking for but it may help me out later," I thought. Nothing I had could destroy either of his monsters, so I ended my turn.

Yugi drew then cautiously inspected his hand. "Your Swords may prevent my monsters from attacking, but it doesn't protect them from magic cards. I activate the magic card, Raigeki!" My last two monsters were destroyed by his card, but I was still safe from a direct assault, for now.

"See? What'd I tell ya? Yug's not out of the game yet," Joey said after Yugi's move

"No, but this is getting pretty exciting," Tristan replied.

Two turns down. I drew another card. "Masked Dragon. Darn! Still not what I need," I said in my head. "I'll summon Twin-Headed Behemoth in defense mode and end my turn." I stated, a little disappointed.

"Let's see how you like this. I activate Brain Control and I choose to take over your Twin-Headed Behemoth. And now I'll sacrifice it and my Big Shield Gardna to summon Dark Magician!" Since he couldn't attack he ended his turn. When his turn ended my Swords of Revealing Light faded and my Twin-Headed Behemoth was summoned back to my side of the field.

"Last chance. I have to believe that my deck will come through for me," I thought to myself. I closed my eyes and drew. The card I drew was… "Yes! I just drew the card that will win me the duel, Yugi! I play Polymerization! And for the monsters for my fusion, Dark Magician and Buster Blader!"

"Now, Yugi, see the power of my mightiest creature, the Dark Paladin!" I exclaimed. "He already has 2900 attack power, stronger than both of your Magicians. That's not all either. My Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for each dragon on either side of the field and in either graveyard. My graveyard has five dragons and I have one on the field. I also noticed that when you played Card Destruction you discarded Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. All those monsters raise my Dark Paladin's attack by 3500, giving it a grand total of 6400 attack points!"

"6400? That's amazing!" Duke said in astonishment.

"No kidding. I've never seen anything that strong," Téa added.

"Fortunately for you, my Dark Paladin can't attack yet. So it's your move," I said as I ended my turn.

Yugi looked troubled as he started his next turn. "I set this card face down and end my turn," he said. He looked a bit relieved after his turn. I wondered what his face down card was that could make him comfortable against my creature of immense power.

"My turn now. I summon Gray Wing and switch my Twin-Headed Behemoth to attack position," I said to call my move. "With Gray Wing added to the field Dark Paladin gains another 500 attack points. Now watch as your Dark Magician Girl is wiped from the field!"

My Paladin charged but Yugi just laughed. "You've triggered my trap!" he cried. "Go, Magical Hats! Conceal and protect my monsters!"

"Oh great," I thought. "A minor setback, Yugi. Paladin, attack the hat second to the left with Dragon Destroyer Slash!" My monster charged the hat and it disappeared in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing! I had chosen the wrong hat! I didn't want to try with my other monsters since they would be destroyed if they found either of Yugi's monsters, so I passed he rest of my turn.

"Now I'll place this card under one of the Magical Hats. Now there are three hats, two of which hold my monsters. But let me warn you, under one of the hats is a nasty little surprise," Yugi said proudly.

"Great move, Yug!" Joey called from the sidelines.

"I admit, it does make me reconsider attacking you, but two to one odds are still in my favor." I told him. "I'll add another Luster Dragon to the field and another 500 attack points to my Dark Paladin. Now Dark Paladin attack the middle hat!" My Dark Paladin attacked, sword in hand, the hat I chose. When the hat vaporized Yugi's Dark Magician appeared and it was cut in half before shattering to tiny fragments and disappearing. Yugi lost 4400 life points from the attack leaving him with only 1900 to my 7200.

"Oh man. Yugi almost bit it there," Joey said.

"Yeah, that was way too close," Téa added. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that her eyes were trained on me, even though her head was facing towards Yugi.

"Alright, now I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck," Yugi was saying. I had been paying so much attention to Téa and the others I hadn't even seen him draw.

"Not so fast, Yugi," I stopped him. "I'll activate my Dark Paladin's special ability!"

"Special ability?" Yugi asked.

"That's right," I explained. "If I discard one card from my hand I can negate and destroy a magic card that you play. The card that I choose to discard is Armed Dragon LV3, a dragon type monster. You know what that means. My Dark Paladin gains yet another 500 attack points."

"Well, I have nothing more I can do this turn, so I'll end it." Yugi told me.

"Now it's time for me to finish this. Dark Paladin…" I paused. I had a fifty percent chance of hitting his Dark Magician Girl. But what about that trap card? "What harm could it do?" I asked myself. "Attack the hat on the right!" I finished.

Téa, Joey, Tristan, and Duke watched in suspense as my monster rushed the target. The hat disappeared in a large burst of smoke and when the smoke cleared, instead of the Dark Magician Girl, there was two identical tubes sitting next to each other, and my Paladin was gone!

"It seems that you've found the trap that I hid," Yugi smirked. "It's called Magic Cylinder and it sends your attack right back at you, directly at your life points!"

"No! I only have 7200 life points left and my Paladin has 7900 attack power!" I cried. The Dark Paladin charged and attacked me. I shielded my eyes as the attack hit its mark and my life points drained to zero.

I stood there, stunned. I couldn't believe it, my best monster defeated. No one had ever beaten my Dark Paladin before and now it had been crushed by someone I had just met.

"Hey! That was a great match!" a voice said from behind me. It was Yugi, but it was like he had a different personality all of a sudden. In our duel he was so determined to win and now it was like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Uh…yeah…it was," I replied, still in shock.

"Are you alright, Brian?" Téa asked with a worried look on her face.

"He's fine. He's still surprised that Yugi beat that insanely strong monster of his. I'm sure we all still are," Tristan said.

"It's starting to get late. We should all probably head home," Yugi said.

We all agreed and went to leave. I was the last one out preceded by Téa. Before she got out the door, she turned and gave me a little wave and a wink then continued on her way. I felt my face go red again. I walked home that night feeling happier than I had been in a long time.


	2. Revelations

Yu-Gi-Oh disclaimer is on Chapter 1 so read it there. I do want to mention that I made a Charmed reference in Chapter 1 and forgot to mention it. The reference to it is here too as well as a reference to Stargate SG-1. I don't own either shows. This is called 'Revelations' for good reason. A lot of background will be given, stuff that most stories do in chapter 1. If you haven't noticed, this is not most stories. There is also a budding relationship between two characters that was hinted at in 'New Duelist on the Block.' Can you guess who they are? Chapter 2 begins, now.

Chapter 2: Revelations

BEEP BEEP

BEEP BEEP

"Stupid alarm," I muttered as I hit the button to shut the clock off. I dropped my face back down onto my pillow. It didn't hit me for a few moments. "Aw, nuts," I said into the pillow.

It was already 7:30 and school started in half an hour. Yesterday it took me forty five minutes to walk to school. Yesterday. I started at my new school and met four of the kindest people in the world. They considered me a friend after the first half of school that day. "Crud!" I said out loud. Here I was daydreaming about yesterday when I was going to be late today!

Wide awake by now, I got out of bed and quickly got dressed. I rushed downstairs, hoping to see that my sister was still there, but, unfortunately, she wasn't. It would have saved me a lot of time to have her drive me to school rather than to have walked. My backpack was sitting next to the door with my jacket. I grabbed them and charged out the door. I quickly checked my pocket to make sure my deck was in there, which it was, before running down the sidewalk at full speed.

As I ran, I looked for some shortcut to the school building five blocks away. I sprinted around the first corner then the second. As I rounded the second, I tripped over someone. "Someone?" I thought. "That can't be right." I turned and looked to see Yugi getting up off the ground, brushing himself off. "Yugi? Are you alright? I didn't even see you."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yugi replied. "What were you doing running to school?"

"Huh? There's only ten minutes left before it starts!" I exclaimed. "We're going to be late!"

"Didn't you know?" another voice said. I turned to see Téa smiling at me. I could tell she was trying hard not to laugh. "They delayed school for an hour this morning to do some work on the water lines. We have another hour to get there."

"Oh, well, you guys mind if I walk with you, then?" I asked. "If you don't want me to, I understand. I mean I nearly killed Yugi back there."

"No, I'm fine," Yugi responded. "I've been in worse situations before."

"Really?" I asked him. Then Yugi and Téa filled me in about Pegasus and what happened at Duelist Kingdom. "Stole your grandpa's soul? I find that hard to believe."

"It's all true. Joey, Tristan, and I were there," Téa said. "I've been meaning to ask you, Brian, where did you learn to duel like that? We've seen Yugi in some tough spots before, but that duel yesterday takes the cake."

"Well, it all started about eight years ago. I got my first deck from my uncle. It had some pretty basic cards in it. Nothing too big," I explained. "After that, I went to conventions and card shops to trade my cards for better ones. I started to use dragon monsters when I saw a poster for a dueling tournament that was to be held at the White House in the presidential rose garden. They called it The Duel of the Roses. The prize for the champion was a rare Seiyariyu card. I tried my best, but I just couldn't handle my competition and I was defeated in the first round."

"That's harsh," Téa stated.

"Yeah, but I didn't give up. I searched for another year to find the best cards I could, anything to support my dragons. The tournament came up again, and this time I was prepared. I won the tournament and took home the prize card as well as the title Duelist of the Roses. The card had changed from Seiyariyu, which made me a bit disappointed, but it was a huge upset. No one had ever expected me to place, let alone win." I paused and started staring down at the ground as we walked. This never was a topic I particularly liked talking about. "I won that tournament four more times before I moved here."

"Wow. After our duel, I knew that you were champion material, but I never suspected that you _were_ a champion," Yugi said in astonishment.

"It's no big deal really," I said quietly. I looked up and saw that we had arrived at school. I said bye to Yugi as he walked down the hall to his classroom, then walked silently along side Téa to our classroom.

The morning classes dragged on. I didn't pay too much attention to the lessons, pretending to look at my books. When I was called on, I half-heartedly stood, gave the answer, and sat back down. I wondered if I should have even told them the truth. "Maybe I should have lied to them," I thought to myself at lunch. "But, these are my friends. Why should I lie to them?"

A sharp poke jolted me from my thoughts. "You've been awfully quiet ever since this morning, Brian. You want to talk about it?" Téa asked me.

"No. Talking about my past just brings back memories. Most of them are…" I started. I realized that all four of them were looking at me. I forced back a tear that was forming in my eye. "I just don't want to talk about it."

"Forget about it," Joey said. "If you don't wanna talk, we don't need to hear it. Cool? So, how 'bout we come over after school? You know, take a look at your card database and stuff."

"Database? I didn't know you knew that word," Tristan said playfully.

"Okay, sure," I said, trying to be cheerful.

"Oh, we don't want to impose on you. Joey just has a hard time controlling himself," Yugi added to the conversation. I looked over at Joey, who was having a private argument with Tristan.

"Yeah, I know. Still, around four sound alright?" I responded. Everyone agreed just as the bell rang. I was in a better mood for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, I considered walking home with Yugi and Téa, but I decided to go by myself.

"Sis, I'm home," I called out when I got in the door. There was no response. Then I found a message on the answering machine saying that she would be working late tonight. "Looks like I'm on my own," I said to myself. I laid down on the couch with my hands behind my head and closed my eyes. A few minutes later the door bell rang. I snapped my eyes open and sat up. "Who could that be? It's only 3:15," I asked myself.

I opened the door and standing there, much to my surprise, was Téa. "Téa? You're early, what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Well, you see, I've been worried about you," She replied. "Since this morning you've been kinda distant. Yugi noticed it, too. I thought that you might think it would be easier to confide in one person instead of four."

"I guess I should tell someone. I owe you at least that much," I told her as I let her in. We sat down on the couch I was lying on earlier.

"What do you mean? You don't owe me anything," she said. I could see confusion, worry, and sadness, among other emotions, in her eyes. It was too heart wrenching to look at her, so I focused my attention at my hands, which were laced together in my lap.

"You'll understand when I tell you," I said. "What I told you this morning wasn't the entire story. Far from it actually. My experience in the tournaments was the highlight of my life," Téa was still confused, so I continued. "When I was little my mother became an actress and my father opened a major corporation. At first, it was nice. It seemed like nothing had changed, they were still there to take care of me and be, well, parents. After awhile my parents made a lot of money and moved us into a mansion with maids and butlers and everything. But my parents claimed that they had more and more work to do and I saw them less and less. Eventually, they never came back. They just sent money to keep everything running. They didn't even come to see me on my birthdays and they forgot most of them."

"Is that what's been troubling you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "There's more. You'd think that with your parents so famous, that everyone at school would want to be your friend," I let out a short laugh. "That wasn't the case, though. I got my deck for my 7th birthday and I was so excited that I was always looking at my cards in my free time. Very few people liked Duel Monsters, and those who did, didn't show it. They laughed and made fun of me, so the only friends I had were my cards. Sure, I made three or four friends during the tournaments, but it was only once a year that I got to see them. And my sister always had better things to do than hang out with her kid brother. Then I came here and met you guys. You're the best friends I've ever had," I finished, fighting the urge to start crying.

I looked over at Téa, only to see tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for crying. It's just that was the saddest story I've ever heard," she said, locking her blue eyes on mine. Then she threw her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. "I'll never let that happen to you again, Brian. Never," she whispered in my ear.

"Thank you, Téa, for listening to me," I said to her as she pulled away from me and wiped her eyes. "I feel a lot better. I guess I just needed to tell someone." The door bell rang, again. "Hm? That must be Yugi, Tristan, and Joey."

I got up and opened the door. Sure enough, there was Yugi, Tristan, and Joey. Joey let out a long whistle. "Whoa, nice place you got here. Téa wasn't home, so we don't know…" he stopped when he saw Téa looking over the back of the couch. "Hey guys, check this out. I found Téa." He started to giggle.

"Yeah?" Tristan chimed in as he poked his head in the door. "Hey, how long have you guys been here alone?" Both Tristan and Joey wore wide grins.

"Don't worry, Tristan. Nothing happened," I informed him. "She's only been here a few minutes, anyway." A short time later, Tristan and Joey were huddled around my laptop exchanging excited gasps while looking my card data. Yugi, Téa, and I were watching TV a few feet away from them. Then something cut in on the show we were watching. It appeared to be some sort of press conference.

Some woman, dressed like an ancient Egyptian, was talking about an exhibit at the museum. She said her name was Ishtar, or something. What really caught my eye was the symbol on her necklace. I wasn't sure but it looked familiar. I thought about it for a little bit, then turned to ask Yugi and Téa. That's when it came to me. The pendant around Yugi's neck! That's where I had seen the symbol. "Yugi, let me see that a sec," I said pointing to the object.

"What? My Millennium Puzzle? Why?" He asked.

"That," I pointed at the woman on TV. "Look at her necklace. It has the same symbol as your puzzle." She was still talking about her Egyptian artifact exhibit.

"Hey, he's right," Téa added. Then she showed one of the slabs and mentioned Duel Monsters.

"Duel Monsters in ancient Egypt?" Yugi questioned. The door bell rang again.

"Man, I gotta take that thing down," I stated as I got up. My comment drew a giggle from Téa. I opened the door to see a mailman standing there with a package. I signed off on it and closed the door. "That's strange. It's from my uncle. I thought he was off on a dig somewhere," I said as I sat back down next to Téa.

"Says here it's from a Dr. Daniel Jackson," Yugi read. "He's related to you?"

"Yeah, he's my uncle. I didn't think he knew where I was living," I said. "I wonder what it could be?" I carefully opened the box and found a letter inside on top of a pile of packing material. I read the letter to myself. "Says he found a couple of things on his dig that he thought I'd like." I dug through the packing material. I found a tablet that was inscribed with hieroglyphs. "I don't understand what this says. I've never seen these patterns before."

"You can read hieroglyphics?" Joey asked me. He and Tristan had snuck up behind me.

"Well, sort of. My uncle taught me some of the symbols and told me that different dialects have slightly different symbols. These, on the other hand, are like nothing I've ever seen before." I explained. I couldn't decipher any of it, no matter how hard I tried.

"Maybe you could take it to someone at the museum. They might be able to figure it out," Yugi suggested.

I nodded. If anyone knew what this was it would be someone that had a connection to the new exhibit. "Hey, what's this?" Téa was looking in the box, then she pulled out a gold bracelet. She drew a deep breath. "Wow… it's so beautiful."

"Huh. Let me see it," I said as I gently lifted it from her hand. "It's probably another artifact. It looks brand new, though." Then I gasped. It had the same symbol that was on Yugi's puzzle and Ishtar's necklace. "Guys, I don't feel so good all of a sudden." I was getting light headed and I felt my body start to collapse.

"Brian? Brian!" Téa's cry was the last thing I heard before I slipped into darkness.

* * *

"…an?…Bri…Brian?" A voice was saying my name and a hand was gently shaking my shoulder.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Yugi kneeling over me. "Yugi? Is…is that you?" I asked.

"Not exactly," He responded. "I'm the spirit that resides in the Millennium Puzzle."

"In the puzzle?" What was he talking about? Maybe I was still groggy and I hadn't heard him right.

"Yes. I sensed the power of the Shadow Realm around you. When I told Yugi, he got worried and told me to follow you," came the response.

I sat up and looked around. I wasn't in my house anymore. Or at least as far as I could tell. I couldn't see more than ten feet away from me, it was too dark. "Shadow Realm? Is that what this is?" I wondered. Then I felt a cold chill run down my spine. "Where's Téa? And Tristan and Joey? Where are they?"

"We're in a place that they can't get to. It was hard enough for me to find you here," the Spirit tried to explain.

"How do we get out then?" I questioned him.

"Sometimes you can't get out. That is, until the Shadow Realm is done with you," he said ominously.

Now I was getting scared. Who is this? Can I even trust him? Seemingly able to read my thoughts, the Spirit said, "You can trust me. You've been aware of my presence for awhile, have you not? Ever since your duel the other day. Am I right?" He was. I had noticed it during the duel. It all made sense now, I thought Yugi had two personalities, but in reality he two spirits. Then I thought of what Yugi and Téa had told me earlier. Everything they said about Pegasus and the events at Duelist Kingdom became more and more believable.

"Alright, well, what now?" I asked as the Spirit helped me to my feet. "Can we look for a way out?"

"I don't see why not," he replied. "I think I see something over in that direction."

I looked to where he was pointing. It looked like a building of some sort. It was too far away to be sure. I did recognize torch light, someone had to be there. "North it is, then," I said dryly.

"North? How can you tell?" he asked. He sounded really confused.

I shrugged. "I can't really. I don't even know if north exists here," I said. At least the conversation was calming me down a bit. As we got closer to the building, its form became more clear and surprisingly familiar. We got to the temple and climbed the tall staircase in front. The inside of the temple threw me for a loop. I recognized windows, pictures, and writings, I knew it all.

"I've seen this before," I said to the Spirit. "My uncle uncovered this temple on a dig. He showed me pictures of it during one of his visits. Wait, these symbols make sense. In the pictures, they didn't mean anything, but…they were reversed."

"Are you certain?" he asked.

"Yeah…" I replied. I started reading the text on the wall. "Dark Magician, Buster Blader, Luster Dragon…Duel Monsters. These are the names of Duel Monsters!"

"Monsters in your deck," a deep voice came from behind me. I turned to look and saw an older version of myself. He looked just like me, same hair, same eye color, everything except he was older and seemed to be stronger, more like a warrior.

"Who are you?" the Spirit demanded.

"I could ask the same of you," the stranger said. "I am Skarra. Keeper of the Temple of Abydos, Royal Guard of the Pharaoh, and the spirit that resides in the Millennium Bracelet."

"Millennium Bracelet? Such an item doesn't exist," my companion said. "Shadi told me that there are seven Millennium Items and a bracelet wasn't one of them."

"While I am surprised you know Shadi, he doesn't know everything," Skarra claimed. "One item was hidden from all of the guardians, even the keeper himself. An eighth item was hidden in the Temple of Abydos and I was appointed to protect it."

"You mean in ancient Egypt?" I asked. "If that temple was in Egypt, how is it here?"

"To help protect the item, the temple was constructed in the Shadow Realm with a mirror of it in Egypt." Skarra explained. "The only way to get the item was to decipher the glyphs on the altar in the real world. They are instructions to get to the Shadow Realm and retrieve the Millennium Bracelet. It was safe, until someone accidentally found the temple and solved the mystery."

"My uncle…" I started.

"Fortunately," Skarra responded. I gave him a confused look. "You are destined to hold this item, Brian. I met Daniel Jackson and sensed his connection to you. I told him to send you the Millennium Item and a slate that had the instructions to get here. From your presence here, I see that you solved the riddle."

"Actually, I didn't solve it," I informed him. "I was just pulled into this place all of a sudden."

"That is a problem," Skarra told me. When I asked him why, he told me something I didn't want to hear. "Without following the instructions to get here, your soul was removed from your body. It will be hard, if not impossible, to send you back."

"No…" I said under my breath. "No…that can't be. Téa said…she said…"

"Téa? What does she have to do with this?" the spirit asked me.

I just shook my head. I didn't want to tell anyone about my feelings for Téa, not just yet. "Skarra, are you sure there's no way back?"

"No, there is a way. But it is a gamble," Skarra replied. "If it doesn't go exactly right, your spirit will be lost forever and the world will fall into darkness."

"I'm just wondering, but if Brian had the directions to get here in his world, shouldn't the instructions to get back, be here in the Shadow Realm?" the spirit of the puzzle asked.

"I'm afraid not. If the instructions were followed, I would be able to take him back using the Millennium Bracelet," Skarra objected.

"What were those instructions to get here anyway? What did I have to do, exactly?" I asked.

"You had to have the cards listed here in the temple, all of them, in your deck. You also needed to be with a loved one, someone you cared about enough to want to go back to. Then, of course, you needed to hold the Millennium Bracelet," Skarra told me.

"Then I did follow the instructions, I just didn't know it," I said excitedly. "I never translated the tablet. I did everything I needed to by fluke."

"Interesting. Then I should be able to take you back to your body," Skarra told me. "But you'll end up like your friend, Yugi. I will reside in the Millennium Bracelet. I will be able to talk to you using my mind and you can do the same with me. Of course this would have happened regardless of whether you had figured out the tablet or not."

"Okay, as long as I can go back and be with my friends," I said, very much relieved. But how does he know Yugi? "Uh, spirit of the puzzle? Well, first off do you have a name?"

"I'm sure I do. However, I don't remember my past," he replied. "Yugi has tried to help me before, but to no avail."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," I said to comfort him. "Anyway, could you fill in Yugi about what happened here? Well, except for what I said about Téa. I don't want anyone to know…yet. Not until I sort it out for myself."

He smiled. "I understand. You tell them when you're ready." I thanked him and he closed his eyes and began to fade away, back to the Millennium Puzzle I surmised.

"Okay. What does a guy gotta do to get out of this place?" I said, half jokingly.

"Just close your eyes and let go of your mind," he said. I gave him a funny look at first, but then I nodded and complied with his directions. "Open your mind!" It was the last thing I heard before my consciousness faded again.

* * *

Voices. I heard some voices. I kept my eyes closed for awhile to try to ascertain where I was.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had a thing for, Brian." Was it Tristan? It sounded like him.

"Yeah? So what if I do?" It was a girl this time. It must have been Téa.

"Anyway, it's good to see that my little brother finally has a girlfriend." Laughter followed that one. But was it Paige? I slowly opened my eyes. I was lying on my back looking straight at the ceiling.

"Hey, I think he's waking up," I heard Joey say. Then Téa's smiling face popped into my sight. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said. Just then, I realized that Téa was clutching my hand between hers. I sat up and she eased her grip on my hand but didn't let go. "We were all so worried about you."

"You gave us quite a scare, kiddo," my sister said as she put her arm around my neck. "From what I hear, Téa here stayed by your side the entire time." I looked at Téa and smiled. That made her blush a little.

"Thanks, you guys. Listen, I've been through a lot today, I need a break and some rest," I told them. "And I've got some things to think about. I'll be fine, I just need some time."

"Well, sleep tight, little brother," Paige said. She then stood up, mussed my hair, then went upstairs.

Then I stood up and saw my friends out the door. Joey and Tristan were the first out. They got to the end of the sidewalk, then one of them said something I couldn't hear and they both started cracking up. Yugi was the next one out, he stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned back to me. He told me that he knew what I was going through and we could help each other out. I agreed with him and he trotted down the walk, out of sight. After Yugi left, Téa took hold of my hand once more and stood with me in the doorway.

"Brian…I care about you a lot. More than I ever thought I would," she started. Her eyes met mine, this time there were no tears. "If you ever need someone to talk to, to comfort you…just ask me. I'll be there."

"Thanks, Téa. I'll do the same for you," I told her. Then I pulled her close to me and gave her a big hug, which she returned without a second thought. We held it for quite awhile before we broke it apart and said goodbye. I stood in the doorway watching Téa until she was out of sight, which is when I finally shut the door.

I walked past the couch and picked up the Millennium Bracelet. My Millennium Bracelet. Things were about to get a lot more complicated. I could feel it.


	3. The Calm Before the Storm

Same disclosures as before. I also want to add that I don't own Battlestar Galactica. I'm really bad at making up names. Seriously. Without giving too much away, this chapter is going to focus on character relationships heavily. The Brian/Téa one is gonna explode. The brother/sister relationship is gonna get off the ground a bit, too. Also, sentences in italics is Skarra's telepathic communication. Now, without further ado, chapter 3.

Chapter 3: The Calm Before the Storm

Sunday. I finally had some free time. After my ordeal in the Shadow Realm on Friday, I had a lot to catch up on. I spent most of Saturday in my room talking with Skarra about the Millennium Items and what secrets they held. As it turns out, the Temple of Abydos had chambers that held knowledge of all the items. Most of them were still sealed off, so we couldn't learn about some of them. What we did learn is that my item had the "Power of Osiris." Skarra had no idea what it meant, but I had an idea.

"From what I know, Osiris judged souls in the underworld," I told him. "Maybe what this means is that the Millennium Bracelet can determine if someone is good or bad by looking into their soul." He had agreed with this and I wanted to try it out, just to see. Paige was my lab rat for this. I focused on her soul as hard as I could and tried to get a read, but all I got was nothing. It just told me it was Paige, that she had been in the area, and nothing more.

That was yesterday, now I had nothing to do. I thought I'd go see Yugi and tell him about my power. Maybe his spirit knew something we didn't. I went to Yugi's game shop, but he wasn't there. His grandpa told me he went out but didn't say where. "I'll try Téa," I said to myself. No one was at Téa's place either. I tried Tristan, then Joey. No one seemed to be home and no one knew where they had gone. I decided to stop by Duke's game shop and look around, but he hadn't seen them since Thursday.

"This is getting kinda weird. It's like they got abducted or something," I thought.

_That is a possibility. I'm sure that there are people after the Millennium Items, and Yugi has one. They may have taken your friends to try to get your bracelet. _

"I don't know, if one of them suspected something I'm sure they would have called me," I informed him.

I made up my mind to take a walk through the nearby park. With or without my friends, I needed some fresh air. I found a bench that was farther away from anyone in the park, so I sat down. I folded my hands behind my head and tilted my head up to the sky. I closed my eyes as a cool, relaxing breeze brushed my cheeks. That's when I heard a loud, booming voice.

"Attention citizens of Domino," the voice said. "I am Seto Kaiba. As of tomorrow, all businesses and schools in Domino will be shut down. I will be holding a city wide tournament." I stared at the blimp that was flying over head in awe. "Certain game shops will have signs in their windows. At these shops you can register for the tournament, but be warned, only the best can enter my tournament. You will register with a rare card. The rarer your card is, the better chance you have to get in. Registration begins tonight. The tournament starts in one week."

A grin came to my face. "Well, this should be interesting."

_This has nothing to do with your destiny, Brian. Don't get into anything that will distract you. _

"But this is like training. You know as well as I do that my entire deck was listed in the temple. Maybe this is some sort of test." Skarra didn't respond. I guessed he was thinking it over or something.

I glanced at my watch. It was already 3:00, so I headed home. I still didn't see Yugi or the others on my way home. When I got home, I found Paige home from work. I walked in and she asked me how I was holding up. "Pretty good," I told her. "It's still weighing down on me a bit. I mean, hey, you don't figure out your destiny everyday." She laughed. Then I got a little suspicious. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Well, it's a bit complicated. I'm off work for awhile. See, this guy named Seto Kaiba rented out the entire city for a Duel Monsters tournament," she said. "You're going to enter, aren't you?"

"Oh, that. I was thinking about it, yeah," I said. "I don't know, though. Skarra's kinda worried that it's not part of my destiny."

"Okay, you tell Skarra to give you a break from this destiny thing," she said with a smile. "We all need a vacation sometime." I nodded. I always thought that living with my sister would be a pain, but it's not so bad. The door bell ringing interrupted my thoughts. "Looks like we have company," she said. When she got up to answer the door, I noticed a fiendish look on her face.

"I wonder…" I said quietly. I carefully peeked out the into the living room. When I looked, I saw Yugi, Téa, Tristan, and Joey sneaking through the door. Then they froze when they saw me.

"Uh…surprise?" Joey said nervously.

I walked the rest of the way into the living room. "What's going on?" I said curiously.

"Merry Christmas!" Joey exclaimed.

Téa slapped him in the back of the head then tried to explain what they were doing. "Please don't hate me for this, but I kinda told them what you told me the other day. We wanted to do something special for you, so we've been out trying to plan it all day."

"We know we can't make up for everything that happened to you in the past," Tristan started.

"But we want to make you feel welcome here," Yugi finished.

"Yeah, we even got you a little present," Joey chimed in.

"You guys…" I started. I couldn't finish the thought. I was so happy I couldn't speak. Then Téa approached me and pulled a small, neatly wrapped package from her bag and held it out to me. I gently took it from her outstretched hands and slowly opened it. It was a deck holder that attached to a belt, similar to what Yugi always wore. "Thanks, this is really nice."

"The deck case is from me, Tristan, and Yug. What's inside is from Téa," Joey told me.

"Huh?" I opened the deck holder and looked inside. There was a card inside. I pulled it out and looked at it carefully. "It can't…how did you…Seiyariyu?" I was speechless. Téa had given me the card I had wanted for the longest time.

"See Téa? I told ya he'd like it," Joey commented.

"Téa, I love you," I blurted out. I looked at my friends after I realized what I had said. Téa's face glowed a bright pink and her eyes were wide open. Yugi's mouth hung open a little and Joey and Tristan were snickering behind him. Paige was half smiling and half laughing. "Wait, no…I mean…um…uh…" I stuttered. I couldn't believe what I had just said.

Téa blinked a couple times then took a couple steps toward me, as if she were under a spell. "I told you that I cared about you. That's why I'm going to do this," she said to me.

I heard a few surprised sounds from the others, but I kept my attention on Téa. She picked up my hands and held them in hers. Gazing into my eyes she slowly moved closer to me. During the next few moments, time seemed to stand still. But the next thing I knew, Téa pressed her lips against mine in long, gentle kiss.

When we finally broke the kiss, Téa was blushing even more and I could feel that I was, too. We smiled at each other nervously. "So, you guys wanna stay for dinner or something?" I asked them, breaking the silence. I was pretty embarrassed, to say the least. They all decided to stay and eat. During the meal, we all talked and laughed about things that Yugi and the others had done before I arrived. My favorite story of the night was when Joey was just starting out as a duelist and lost to Téa five games straight. After we were all finished eating, they told me of Yugi's duel with Kaiba.

"And Yugi cleaned Kaiba's clock with Exodia," Joey said to finish the story.

"Wow, Yugi. You have Exodia?" I asked.

"Yeah. Well, I used to," Yugi answered.

"A little punk named Weevil threw the cards off the boat to Duelist Kingdom," Joey continued. "But we got our revenge and kicked him out of the tournament as soon as it started."

"Hey, it's getting late. We shouldn't keep you up all night," Tristan said after we had talked for another couple hours.

"Alright, see you guys later," I told them as they walked out the door. "Thanks for all this. I really appreciate it." Téa stopped and gave me another quick kiss. We heard a "woo-hoo" from outside.

"I'm gonna kick your butt, Joey!" Téa hollered. We both laughed after that and said goodbye.

"I didn't know you had such good friends," Paige said after I had shut the door. "And that Téa's quite the looker, eh?"

I blushed again. "Aw, c'mon sis, don't start that again," I said with a giggle.

"Okay, okay. Now go get some sleep. You got a tournament to prepare for," she told me.

I complied and trotted upstairs. I sat on my bed and pulled out my new Seiyariyu card and set it in front of me. I looked at it for a few moments, thinking of Téa. I then reached over and grabbed my deck from my desk and thumbed through it. I picked out three cards, Graceful Charity, Waboku, and Change of Heart, and lined them up with Seiyariyu. I sighed and smiled. These four cards had been given to me by my friends at one time or another.

Waboku was given to me by Jack Mahour after my third tournament win. I received Change of Heart from Melissa Hensen a short time later. Graceful Charity I got from Alexis Luminari after I beat her in my fourth tournament. Waboku was one of Jack's favorites, but Melissa and Alexis bore striking resemblances to the images on their respective cards. Seiyariyu was different, though. It was a dragon and didn't look anything like Téa, but it still reminded me of her. "Maybe it's because I love her…" I thought. I snapped out of my thoughts and slid the cards back into my deck. Seiyariyu still sat in front of me. I quickly thought of my cards and replaced Luster Dragon #2 with Seiyariyu.

_What are you doing? You mustn't change your deck, Brian._

"Don't worry, Skarra. I looked at all of the monsters in the temple and Luster Dragon #2 wasn't in there," I assured him.

_Well, I still don't like it. Messing around with destiny isn't the best idea._

I laid back on my pillow. "Aw, you worry too much. Besides, how are we to know that putting this card in my deck wasn't part of destiny's design?" I told him.

_I see. I suppose destiny isn't always as clear as we want it to be. But my statement stands._

That's the last thing he said before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning was quiet. Since there was no school and all the businesses were closed, I got to spend the morning with my sister for once. "You know, we never did this when we were little," I told her over breakfast.

"Yeah…I know," she replied sadly. "I guess I just wanted to do 'girl' things, you know. I always thought we were too different and would never get along."

"It stinks that Mom and Dad had to die for us to disprove that." I flinched after I said that. She had never spoken about them since the funeral.

She just nodded. "You gonna go see Téa today?" she asked.

"I don't know. It's kinda rude to drop by unannounced," I said.

She stood to clean up the dishes which I helped her with. "You two have something special. Don't ruin that," she told me.

The next thing I did was grab the new deck case that my friends gave me and I left the house. I headed over to Yugi's game shop which is where he also lived. I stepped through the door and asked his grandfather if Yugi was still there. He directed me upstairs to his room. When I got there, Yugi appeared to be getting ready to go somewhere.

"Hey, Yugi. Going somewhere?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm going to see Téa. We were gonna do some stuff," he replied while putting the Millennium Puzzle around his neck.

"Oh…I see," I said with a tone of sadness.

Apparently, Yugi caught on and knew why I sounded sad. "Oh, it's okay. I just thought the spirit of the puzzle could use someone to talk to and who better than Téa. I think she'd understand this sort of thing better than Tristan and Joey would."

"You're right about that," I said with a grin. "Knowing Tristan and Joey they'd probably turn the conversation to something else and forget about what they were doing."

Yugi laughed then went quiet again. "I know you love Téa and I'm not gonna get in the way of that." I asked him how he knew that. "Well, the spirit of the puzzle told me after I told him about last night. He said that you told him not to tell, but he figured we'd know by now."

"Yeah, that was pretty obvious. Paige hasn't stopped talking about it since," I said.

"Why don't you go with them?" Yugi offered. "I'm sure your spirit could take advantage of the opportunity."

"Okay. Except, Skarra can't control my body like your spirit can." I said. "I'm sure he'll listen in though."

_No. You can't go._

"_What? Why not?"_ I asked out loud.

_This is someone else's destiny. Don't interfere._

"No, I'm going," I told him. "We may figure something out that may help out Yugi's spirit."

"What?" Yugi looked puzzled.

"It's just Skarra," I said to Yugi. "He doesn't think I should go. For some reason he thinks I'm meant to stay out of everyone's business and not get involved…with anything. Or anyone, for that matter."

"Well, come on," Yugi said. "Let's go meet up with Téa." We left Yugi's house and started walking across town. After awhile, I asked Yugi where we were going. "I told Téa I'd meet her in front of the library. It's not too far, now."

"There's a library in this city?" I asked myself. "How come I never know these things until I'm on my way there?"

Eventually, we came upon the library. It was a huge building that looked more like a court house than a library. There were a few people going up and down the large staircase in front of the building, but sitting at the bottom was our girl, Téa. She was wearing a skirt and a tube top with an open jacket over it. She was staring off into space and didn't appear to notice us until we walked up to her.

"Hey, Yugi!" she said, jumping up from where she was sitting. She saw me and a big smile came to her face. "Hi there, Brian. I didn't know you were coming."

"Well, I went to see Yugi this morning and he asked me to come along, too," I explained. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not," she replied happily.

That's when I felt something. It was a twinge that originated from my right wrist. I lifted my arm up and pulled back my sleeve, revealing my Millennium Bracelet. "Strange…" I murmured. Téa gave me a worried and confused look. But before I could explain, Yugi started yelling at someone.

"Hey! You can't just do this to me! Get back out here!" He was holding the puzzle in both hands and shaking it around. From what I could tell he was yelling at the puzzle, not a person. He paused and tilted his eyes up at us. Then he let go of the puzzle and put his hand up and said, "Uh…hi."

Téa and I exchanged skeptical looks. "You okay, Yugi?" I asked.

"Actually, I'm the spirit of the puzzle," he replied. "I guess you guys could call me Yugi anyway since I don't know my real name."

We wandered around town, sort of aimlessly, discussing what we could do to try to discover 'Yugi's' past. All we could come up with was that it had something to do with Egypt. We visited a game shop, where Yugi gained a few cards, then stopped at a café to talk and get something to drink.

"The mystery may be solved in the Temple of Abydos," I suggested. "There's a bunch of chambers there, each one marked with an item. So far, all we can get into are the ones marked with the necklace and the eye."

"The chamber with the eye won't help us, anyway. The Millennium Eye disappeared shortly after I defeated Pegasus," Yugi said.

"I'm not even sure any of the chambers will help us. All it says in the two open chambers is what the items do," I sighed.

"We know what the eye did. It stole souls. What does the necklace do?" Téa asked.

"From what Skarra and I can gather, it allows the user to look into the past and the future," I told her.

"If I could use that necklace…" Yugi trailed off. He was holding his head up on his hand and was gazing thoughtfully out the window. There was a large amount of people gathering at the arcade across the street.

"I wonder what's going on over there?" Téa said. "C'mon guys let's check it out!"

We got up and left the café and crossed the street. It turns out they all seemed to be watching a couple guys playing a dancing game. The game's clock said they had been going for fifteen minutes. The three of us pushed our way to the front of the crowd to get a better look. We watched for a little while and before long one of the guys lost. The winner turned and thanked the crowd as if he were a movie star. That ticked me off a little. He was acting like my mother. He really got under my skin when he looked down and saw Téa.

"Well hello there, gorgeous," he said to Téa as he bent down and cupped her face in his hand. "Did you come here just to see me, Johnny?"

I glared at him. "Back off, buddy," I said to the guy.

He pulled his hand back and turned his attention to me. "And who are you?" Johnny asked. "Her boyfriend?" He laughed and so did the couple of guys that came up next to him.

"As a matter of fact he is," Téa piped up. I felt Yugi lightly elbow me a couple times.

"Why don't you just ditch the pipsqueaks and come join up with us?" one of the guys beside Johnny asked her.

"Yo, guys. Cool it," the dancer told them. "How would you like to dance with me? Let's see how good you are."

An annoyed look came over Téa's face. "Okay, you're on!" she said to him. She pulled off her jacket and turned to me. "Would you hold this for me, sweetie?"

I took her jacket and tucked it safely under my arm. I was a bit surprised that she had called me sweetie. She stepped up on the stage and studied the board she was standing on. Then she tilted her head up and closed her eyes. A count down started on the screens. As soon as it hit zero, Téa's eye snapped open and the music started. They both started out good, but Téa was a few steps ahead of her challenger. She was performing elegant turns and jumps with her arms flowing with the rest of her body, landing each step perfectly nearly every time. I watched in awe, her dancing was so beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

After a few minutes Johnny started falling behind in points. A couple times he "accidentally" bumped into her and tried to make her mess up. Téa was too good for that and turned the nudges into spins and twirls. The last straw was when Johnny attempted to trip Téa. It was an obvious move that everyone saw. A bunch of them booed but then cheered when Téa regained her balance and landed in a ballet stance. The music stopped and the scores appeared on the screens. Téa's score was almost double that of Johnny's.

Téa stepped off the platform and walked back over to me and Yugi. "That was amazing, Téa!" I exclaimed as I handed her jacket back to her and the three of us left the arcade. "I never would have guessed you could do anything that beautiful."

"I knew you wanted to be a dancer, Téa, but I didn't know you were that good. It was a marvelous performance," Yugi added.

"Aw, that's sweet you two," Téa said in response. We turned down a road that lead to a short wall that overlooked the bay and a magnificent sunset. Yugi sat on the wall with his back to the bay. I leaned on the wall, propped up on my elbows. Téa was in between me and Yugi in the same position as me.

"I used to take dance classes when I was young," Téa told us. "I loved it so much, but I don't go anymore."

"Why not? Why did you quit?" I asked her curiously.

Before she could respond, an all too familiar voice broke in. "Hey, you!" we turned to look and saw Johnny.

"What do you want now, Johnny?" I asked him.

"I want a rematch! Your little girlfriend cheated!" he yelled.

"What? No I didn't! You're the cheater!" Téa snapped.

That's when Yugi stood up. "Perhaps you'd like to play a different game," he said calmly. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"You think I'm gonna lose to some spiky haired runt?" Johnny boasted.

"Wait, Yugi," I said as I stepped up to Johnny. Yugi asked me why and gave me a questioning look. I grinned. "Téa stood up to this guy earlier for me. It's time I do the same for her."

"No skin off my back. I'm gonna knock your socks off, kid." Johnny sounded pretty confident.

We began our duel. It turns out Johnny was much more of a dancer than a duelist. In about five minutes my two Luster Dragons had him on the ropes. He was down to 2900 life points and mine were completely intact at 8000. The next card I drew was one of my most powerful monsters. "Now it's time to finish this," I said courageously. "I sacrifice my two monsters, and summon my almighty Blue Eyes White Dragon!" The screeching roar of my dragon echoed across the playing field.

"What? That's impossible!" Johnny whimpered. "You! You're Seto Kaiba aren't you? I give up, I can't possibly win!" Johnny gathered up his cards and started to leave. The duel holograms shut down but I left my cards sit there for awhile and watched Johnny go to leave.

Téa stepped in front of him. "I can't believe you! You act all tough and go around challenging people, but as soon as you start to lose, you wimp out and run away!" Téa scolded him. "And he's not even Seto Kaiba!" Johnny argued with us until Yugi told him that honesty and honor led to victory. Eventually, Johnny walked out a changed man, or at least that's what we thought.

I followed Yugi back outside with Téa clinging lovingly to my arm. "Oh…it's already dark. We missed the sunset," Téa commented sadly.

"Oh man! I totally forgot! We were supposed to be helping Yugi out today," I said. "I guess we got a little distracted. I'm sorry, Yugi."

"It's quite alright. I don't think we would have found out too much anyway," Yugi responded.

"I have an idea. We should go to the museum and take a look at that Egypt exhibit." And with that Téa whisked us off to our destination.

When we arrived at the museum we went straight to the Egyptian section. Yugi went off on his own to look at the slabs that had pictures of duel monsters. Téa wanted to spend some time alone with me so I took her to see the Egyptian jewelry.

"That's not right," I said to Téa. "It's labeled as a necklace said to be worn by Isis. But it clearly says 'Nephthys' across the front."

"It's pretty, though," she commented.

"Yeah, but not as pretty as you are," I told her. She giggled and put her head on my shoulder. Then Yugi came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and looked at him. It looked like he had seen a ghost. "Yugi, what's wrong?"

"I think you should see for yourself," he replied. Téa and I followed Yugi through an open door and down a stairwell. He led us to a tablet that was hanging from the wall. At first I didn't see what the big deal was, then I looked again, more carefully.

"I don't believe it…it's Yugi…" Right there on the tablet was a drawing of two people facing each other, one of them looked exactly like Yugi. The three of us just stared at the carving for a few minutes, until a voice behind us pulled our attention away.

"Greetings, Lord Yami," the voice said. "I am Ishizu Ishtar. I have foreseen your arrival."

"Lord Yami?" Téa asked. "Wait, could that be your real name?"

"I see that you found this tablet, just as I knew you would," Ishizu continued.

"You used your Millennium Necklace to see this, didn't you?" I asked. "What importance does this tablet have though?"

"This carving shows one of the most important battles of ancient Egypt," Ishizu explained. "It takes place between a sorcerer and the pharaoh, King Yami."

"King Yami?" the three of us said at once.

"Yes. In that battle you protected the world from a great evil," she continued. "Once again, that evil has risen and once again you must defeat it."

"But how will we know what this evil is?" Téa asked.

"You won't have to worry about that. Only Yami will," she informed us.

"No way," I told her. "No matter what, we'll always be here for him. I don't care if I'm in terrible danger, I'll always stand by my friends."

"I see. Tell me, what is your name?" Ishizu asked me.

"What? I thought you 'foresaw' our arrival," I replied. "Anyway, I'm Brian Matthews, Duelist of the Roses!" I held up my right hand and revealed my Millennium Bracelet.

"That…that bracelet. Is it a Millennium Item?" Ishizu sounded shocked. "I never saw this, perhaps you _are_ meant to help Lord Yami…"

"What is this evil you were talking about?" Yami asked.

"Yes…the Egyptian God Monsters," she told us. "Whoever holds all three cards will know infinite power. The one who is after them already has two. You must prevent them all from falling into his hands."

"What do you guys think?" Yami asked us.

"There's not much I can do," Téa said. "But I'll be there when you need me."

"Help an ancient pharaoh and save the world?" I grinned. "Sure, let's do it."

"Then it's decided, we'll all help to save the world," Yami said and turned back to Ishizu. "Huh? She's gone." It was true, during our conversation she had disappeared. Simply vanished.

"Hmm…do you think this has anything to do with the Battle City Tournament?" I asked Yami on our way out of the museum. "Skarra seems to think so now."

"I'm almost certain of it," he replied. "It seems more than just coincidence that these two events would take place at the same time."

"I wish there was more I could do…" Téa said with a heavy heart.

I reached over and held her hand. "Come on, Téa, I can't do this without you. Nothing makes me feel stronger and duel better than knowing that I'm fighting for someone."

"We should explain all this to the others," Yami said. "I'm sure Tristan and Joey wouldn't mind meeting us tomorrow."

"Right," I agreed. Yami then turned and walked off toward his home, or maybe it was Yugi's, I wasn't really sure anymore. I walked Téa home and gave her a quick kiss before saying goodnight. As I walked home I began to think about the new challenge ahead of me.

_It seems I owe you an apology._

"No, not really. Destiny is hard to predict. There's no way you could have known for sure."

_Anyway, now that we know that your friend is the pharaoh, we know what we need to do._

"We'll see about that. For some reason I think there's more to this story than what was revealed. This isn't over. Not by a long shot."


	4. Preparations

Same disclosures as in previous chapters. Nothing new this time. This chapter is fluff to help move the story along. Some people may not like it, but I needed to throw it in. There are only a few days left before Battle City and the same events will take place, with our own little twists. Slight differences from the show will be noticeable, but won't change the outcome. Here goes nothing. Chapter 4, launching!

Chapter 4: Preparations

"And then when we turned around, she was gone," Yugi said. It was Yugi, not Yami that was relating the story to Joey and Tristan. Yami had allowed Yugi to watch and listen to what had gone on last night at the museum. It was a lovely spring afternoon and the trickle of the fountain that we were sitting at in the park was quite relaxing.

"God monster cards? That sounds like some pretty powerful stuff," Joey said. "And who would have thought that Yugi was a pharaoh?"

"Just wait until you guys hear what happened _before_ we went to the museum," Téa jumped into the conversation. Tristan and Joey looked at me and raised their eyebrows.

I was quietly looking at my reflection in the fountain's water. I turned my head to them when I noticed that no one was talking. "What?" I asked.

"Téa says that you and her did something last night," Tristan teased.

"Hey! That's not what I said," Téa growled. "Although, what he did was very sweet."

"Enough with the suspense already!" Joey exploded. "Out with it, Téa."

"Well, you see, there was this guy that was really ticking us off," She started to explain.

"He was hitting on her," I stated as I turned back to the fountain.

"Well, I guess he was at first…then Yugi challenged him to a duel," Téa continued. "But Brian wanted to protect me. He dueled the guy."

"You're kidding," Joey said. "You mean I missed Brian dueling?"

"It wasn't that great. He gave up once I summoned my Blue Eyes White Dragon," I assured him.

"And that was the interesting thing," Yugi said. "He has a Blue Eyes White Dragon."

"I have two," I informed them modestly. "They're just a couple of things I picked up from the Roses tournament."

"You should really take pride in your deck," Yugi told me. "Blue Eyes White Dragon cards are all but non-existent here."

I shrugged and stuck my right fore finger in the water and stirred it in a small circle. I was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt with my Millennium Bracelet around my wrist. It glistened in the light of the midday sun as I moved my hand around. "You guys really need to learn to relax," I told them. "The key to winning major tournaments is to have a clear mind. I believe we still have to register."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Joey spoke up. "Serenity's going to have her operation tomorrow."

"That's great news, man," Tristan replied.

"Yeah, and the first thing she's gonna see is my beautiful mug," Joey laughed.

"Well what do you say we go get registered for Battle City?" I asked Yugi. "Might as well get the formalities out of the way now rather than later."

"Oh, you're leaving?" Téa asked me when I stood up. "We hardly get to do anything together."

"We'll try to do something later tonight then," I told her with a smile. Yugi and I then turned to go. Joey followed us saying he was going to enter as well. It took a long time to find a registration store, they weren't as plentiful as Kaiba had stated they were.

Joey approached the guy at the counter first and showed him his Red Eyes Black Dragon. "I'm sorry but there are only four rarity stars on this card. You need at least six to get in the tournament," he said. I sensed something from my bracelet. Before I could say anything the registrar spoke up. "My apologies. There _are_ six stars on your card. It just took awhile to come up."

Joey was handed a box that held the latest technology from Kaiba Corp, a duel disk. The registrar explained how to operate them and then took care of me and Yugi. Yugi used his Dark Magician to get in and I flashed my Seiyariyu.

We left the shop and began walking home. I looked at my watch. "8:30. I'm gonna get chewed out by Téa later," I thought to myself. I had promised her that we'd do something tonight, but it had taken all day to find this place. "I'll make it up to her tomorrow," I said out loud.

"Oh, shoot!" Joey shouted. "I can't believe I forgot about Serenity! I told her I'd be there to see her at eight! Gotta run, later!" He turned and sprinted down an alley in the direction of the hospital. Yugi and I laughed when we heard the sound of several trash cans being knocked over and the "I'm okay!" that followed it.

We walked along for a little while in silence. "Seems that you and Téa have hit it off pretty good," Yugi said eventually.

"I thought we discussed this already. But yeah, I guess we have," I replied. "She's right, though. We never do anything just ourselves. Heck, our first kiss was in front of you guys."

"I'm sure that was embarrassing enough," Yugi laughed.

We talked about several other things, until we came upon Yugi's house. I said goodbye and kept walking to my own house. When I got there I rushed upstairs and called Téa to apologize. To my surprise, she wasn't sad or even mad at me. I told her I would spend all day with her tomorrow. After hanging up, I went right to sleep.

* * *

The next morning I got up and took Téa out for breakfast then we walked around the city for awhile. A ringing sound drew our attention. "Oh, excuse me a second," Téa said as she pulled a cell phone out of her purse. "Hello? Oh, hi Yugi…What? No we haven't seen Joey today…The hospital to see Serenity?…What do you mean he never showed up?…Okay, we'll meet you there." She shoved the phone back in her purse then grabbed my hand and started running.

"What's going on, Téa?" I asked.

"It's Joey. He went to see Serenity last night," she explained.

"Yeah, I know. He said he was late and rushed off," I told her.

"Well, his mom called Yugi saying he never showed up. And no one has seen him since," she finished.

"That's not good," I said to myself. I let go of Téa's hand and kept running. The two of us found Yugi rushing out the front door of the hospital when we got there. "Yugi!" I called out. " Let's go and try to retrace his steps."

"And fast," He agreed. "It's almost time for the operation and Serenity locked herself in her room. Tristan's there trying to get her to come out."

We searched along the streets for twenty minutes before we got to the game shop we were at the night before. We found nothing on the way. As we looked around we saw that there was far too many ways to get to the hospital from where we were.

"Let me try to track him," I said. "I should be able to sense him with my Millennium Bracelet." I closed my eyes and held my hand out forward. Nothing happened.

"Let's just pick an alley and go!" Yugi said as he ran off. Téa and I followed suit.

Then, as we passed by one side street, something pulled my arm to the side. I stopped and shouted to the others. I looked down the alley and saw a bunch of knocked over trash cans. "This is it. I can sense Joey's presence now." I led them down the alley and around a few corners and found Joey laying on the ground unconscious with his duel disk on his arm and activated.

"Oh no, Joey!" Yugi said as he rushed to his friend's side. He tried to revive him, but Joey would not wake up.

Fearing the worst, I pulled his duel disk off his arm and handed it to Téa. I then grabbed his arm and threw it over my shoulder and picked him up. "We have to get him out of here," I said, half carrying and half dragging him through the alley. "Hopefully, he'll come to on the way. Come on, Joey. Your sister is waiting."

We got out of the alley a short time later on the street in front of the hospital. "At least he knew where he was going," I thought. He started mumbling something about his Red Eyes. He didn't sound good, but any sign of life was good at this point. We carried him through the front doors and into the elevator. Joey started to come around and could stand on his own feet.

The elevator doors opened and Joey hauled himself into the hall, barely. "Joey let us help you," Téa pleaded.

Joey waved his hand at us. "No. I can do it myself. I need to prove to Serenity that I'm strong, so she can get through this operation." We watched as he moved to his sister's door and begged her to come out. After several attempts, she threw the door open and caught Joey in a loving embrace.

"Guys…" I said quietly to Tristan, Yugi, and Téa. They turned to look at me and I nodded my head in the direction of the elevator, indicating that we should leave them alone for some family time. Téa silently handed Joey's duel disk to his mother to give back to him and we slipped into the elevator and headed back down.

"It's a good thing you guys showed up when you did," Tristan said. "They almost cancelled the operation. Where did you find him anyway?"

"Brian located him with the Millennium Bracelet," Yugi explained. "We still don't know what happened to him."

"We should wait to make sure Joey's alright," Tristan said when we got to the ground floor.

We moved out to the lobby to wait. We waited for the rest of the afternoon and into early evening. Téa had fallen asleep on my shoulder and was breathing softly in my ear. Tristan kept teasing saying how cute we were together and I kept shushing him, not wanting to wake my girlfriend. Yugi just stared at the elevator the entire time, waiting for his best friend to come walking out and show us all that he was just fine.

One thing that was still nagging at me was what had happened to him in that alley. When Joey had run off his duel disk was still in its box, let alone activated. What went on? Was he in a duel? Then, he _had_ said something about his Red Eyes Black Dragon. Did he lose it? If he had, he'd be kicked out of the tournament. Before I could think of a reason, Téa awoke and lifted her head up at me.

"Has Joey come back down yet?" she asked with a yawn. I was about to say no when the elevator bell dinged and the doors slid open. Joey walked out wearing a huge grin.

"The operation was a success!" he said proudly. We all congratulated him. "Serenity's in recovery right now. The doc says she'll be able to see perfectly in about five days."

"Perfect! Just in time to see the tournament," Tristan stated.

"Are you alright Joey?" I asked. "You were in pretty bad shape when we found you. What happened?"

"I'm fine. Some guys wearing capes jumped me in the alley and demanded that I give them my Red Eyes Black Dragon," he explained. "Then, when I refused, he forced me to duel him. I lost the duel, but I still refused to give it to them. I think I got hit from behind, I don't remember."

"What about the tournament? You don't have your rare card anymore," Yugi wondered.

"I still got that covered, Yug. I've got Time Wizard, remember?" Joey replied. "Besides, all I have to do is track down that creep that took my card and win it back."

I listened to all of this and something still didn't feel right. Why go after Joey's Red Eyes? There are much better cards than that. Why not try to take my Seiyariyu or Yugi's Dark Magician? And why cards? Why not our Millennium Items? It wasn't adding up. Someone waving a hand in front of my face broke my thought process.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Téa asked me. "C'mon we're leaving."

I blinked a few times and looked around. Yugi, Tristan, and Joey were already out the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming," I said. I looked at my watch. It was only 6:30. "Hey, Téa. Wanna go catch a movie?"

* * *

The five of us spent the next two days hanging out, playing a few games of Duel Monsters as well as Dungeon Dice Monsters, which I never did get the hang of, and preparing our decks for the tournament. I kept my rarest cards hidden, a little surprise for them during the tournament. On Saturday, Téa and I finally had our first "official" date, one without interruption. And on Sunday, Paige had prepared a good luck banquet for me, Yugi, and Joey. Téa and Tristan were invited, too, of course. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Monday morning was the beginning of it all. I met up with Yugi, Yami actually, and Joey and went with them to the city square where the official announcement was going to be made. It was my first competition in some time and I was looking forward to the challenge.

_Don't forget what else we're here for._

"I know," I said quietly.

"You know what?" Joey spoke up.

"Nothing. Just that I'm gonna wipe the floor with you," I replied jokingly.

"Joey Wheeler," a female voice said from behind us. "I thought I heard that loud mouth of yours."

"Hey, Mai," Joey responded. "I didn't know you had entered."

"You think I'm gonna miss out on this?" Mai said. "Say, who's this? I've never seen him before."

"I'm Brian Matthews," I stated. "You don't need to remember my name. It'll be in all the papers when I win this thing."

"Confident, aren't we? Good luck, kid. You'll need it," She said as she turned to walk away.

"Good luck to you too, Mai," Yugi said.

Then there was another voice. "Hey! Yugi!" it called out.

"It's Mako," Yugi said. "How have you been?"

"Great!" replied the enthusiastic duelist. "I have some great new cards I've been dying to test out. I look forward to our rematch in the finals."

"As do I, Mako," Yugi responded. Just as he did, two more duelists approached us. One was wearing a ski cap and the other one was wearing the biggest pair of glasses I'd ever seen.

"Well, well. If it isn't Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood," Joey said, a bit annoyed. "What rock did the two of you crawl out from under?"

"Watch what you say, Wheeler," Weevil spoke up. "My bugs are ready to squash you."

"I'm ready for some dino-demolition myself," Rex said with a grin.

A few minutes after they left Kaiba's blimp flew over head. "Attention, duelists. Before we begin, I will explain the rules of the tournament," Kaiba's voice echoed from the blimp's speakers. "With your duel disks, each of you received a locater card that has a piece of a map on it. After each duel, the winner will claim a locater card from his or her opponent as well as their rarest card. If you lose all of your locater cards you are disqualified. The first eight duelists to obtain six locater cards will be eligible for the finals. The entire city is your battlefield, now let the dueling begin!"

"Let's split up," I said. "You know, every man for himself."

"Yeah. See you guys in the finals!" Joey agreed.

Yugi nodded and walked off. Joey and I then turned in different directions and went on our way. I smiled inwardly. "This is going to be one heck of a tournament," I thought.

_I expect to see a lot of challenges ahead. We'll have to watch our backs._

"I know," I told him. "Now let's do this!"


	5. Let the Games Begin!

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill. Battle City has begun and Brian is quickly gaining victories. The real challenge comes in when one of Brian's childhood friends appears in the competition. It seems that there may have been something more between them at one time. Don't worry you'll see. Behold, in all it's glory, chapter 5! (I'm running out of intros)

Chapter 5: Let the Games Begin!

"Now, Dark Magician, finish him! Dark Magic Attack!" I ordered. My Dark Magician then wiped my opponents life points out once and for all. After the attack, the holograms shut down and I received his locater card and his rarest monster. His monster wasn't anything I could put to good use, so I simply slipped it into my pocket. So far, so good. The tournament had attracted a lot of duelists, but many of them I already saw leaving. It had only been an hour and I had already collected two more locater cards.

"This is way too easy," I said out loud. I was walking down the street with my hands clasped behind my head. I glanced over at other duels that were taking place, none of which held my interest very long. "Wonder how Yugi and Joey are holding up?" Just as that thought went through my head, my favorite voice in the world rang out.

"Brian! We finally found you!" I turned to see Téa closer than I expected with Tristan a good distance behind her. She threw her arms around me in a big hug that nearly knocked me over. "Sorry we missed the start of the tournament. We wouldn't have been so late if Tristan hadn't spent two hours combing his hair."

"Hey, a guy has to look his best," Tristan retorted. "So, how you doin' so far?"

"I already have half of what I need to go to the finals," I replied.

"Where's Yugi and Joey?" Téa asked. "You didn't knock them out already, did you?"

"What if I said I did?" I said with a devilish smile. A look of dread came over her face. I quickly tried to comfort her. "I'm kidding, Téa. Yugi and Joey thought it would be best to split up and meet again in the finals. I haven't seen them since it started."

We walked for a little while and eventually saw a couple duelists walk past us. I could hear part of their conversation when they got closer.

"I can't believe that girl!" one of them said.

"I know! She beat both of us in ten minutes!" the other one exclaimed.

"Wonder who they were talking about…" I wondered.

"Hey, you!" a voice called out. I turned to see a girl wearing a duel disk. She had short blonde hair and green eyes and was fiddling with a dark green gem that hung from a thin gold chain around her neck. "Strange, you look kinda familiar. And you're cute." Téa glared at her and grabbed my arm. The girl looked at Téa. "Oh? His girlfriend, are you? Well it doesn't matter. I'll still beat him."

"Kick her butt, Brian," Téa said to me as I pulled out my deck.

"Brian?" she said, confused. Then her eyes widened. "Brian Matthews? I knew you looked familiar."

Then it hit me. I knew who she was. "Alexis Luminari. Never expected to see you again," I said.

Alexis nodded. "I won't lose to you this time. I have three locater cards."

"As do I," I stated calmly. "All or nothing?"

"You bet," she replied. "The winner goes to the finals."

We placed our decks into the slot on our duel disks and began our match. If Alexis hadn't changed her deck too much, I knew what she'd do.

"Ladies first," I said sarcastically.

"My pleasure," she replied. "I summon Shining Angel in attack mode. Your move."

I drew and studied what I had. I had drawn a pretty good hand and, in a few turns, I could have my Dark Magician in play. "I summon Lord of Dragons, then activate The Flute of Summoning Dragon!" I declared. "With this magic card, I'll bring Twin-Headed Behemoth and Blackland Fire Dragon to the field. Now say goodbye to your Shining Angel, Twin-Headed Behemoth, attack!" My monster attacked and tore Alexis' monster to shreds.

"Still over confident I see," she said. "My monster has a special ability. When it is destroyed by an attack, I get to summon a monster with an attack of 1500 or less. The one I choose is…Mudora! Mudora also has a special ability. It gains 200 attack points for every Fairy-type monster in my graveyard. Shining Angel was a Fairy. Now Mudora has 1700 attack power."

I narrowed my eyes slightly. I _had_ forgotten about that card's effect. It had been her opening move in the past. I still had the upper hand, or I would on my next turn. I ended my current turn and prepared for what she was going to throw at me next. She drew with a slight smile then it faded into disappointment. "Nothing I can use right now," she declared. "But I'll still summon Spirit of the Harp, in defense mode. Look at your little Lord of Dragons standing there. Not for long, though. Mudora, attack!"

I flinched as my monster was destroyed, taking with it 500 of my life points. Lord of Dragons had served it's purpose and now it was time to get a heavy hitter in there. "Kaiser Sea Horse. That'll really help later," I thought when I drew. Now it was time to put my plan into action. "I play Soul Exchange and I'll choose to use your Mudora along with Blackland Fire Dragon to summon Dark Magician. Dark Magician clear the field of Spirit of the Harp." Alexis let out a startled gasp and shielded her face with her arm as my monster's attack kicked up a cloud of dust. "And now Twin-Headed Behemoth will take a chunk of your life points!" 7500 to 6400. That felt a bit better, but I knew it wasn't over yet.

"Way to go Brian!" Téa cheered. "I knew you could do it!"

"Yeah, awesome move, man!" Tristan added.

"Not much has changed in your strategy," Alexis said calmly. "But it looks like I should kick it up a notch. I play Luminous Spark! It boosts the attack of all Light monsters by 500, but at the cost of 400 defense points. Then I'll summon Dunames Dark Witch and destroy your last dragon!" My monster fell and my life points dropped by 800 as well. She ended her turn after playing one more card. "Your Dark Magician poses a temporary threat, but I'll fix that. Go, Swords of Revealing Light!"

My next card was Luster Dragon and, along with Kaiser Sea Horse, it was useless at the moment. Or was it? I put it onto the field in defense mode and passed my turn. "I call forth Neo the Magic Swordsman!" Alexis said on her next turn. Her next assault was to destroy my two dragons. Twin-Headed Behemoth could only come back once in a duel so now it was gone for good.

My next turn gave me my own Swords of Revealing Light, but I decided to hold on to it for awhile. I only had one more turn to wait before my Dark Magician was free. "Nothing from me this time," Alexis said on her next turn. "Scratch that. I'll play Prohibition. This card prevents either of us from playing a card of my choosing. I know just what card I'll pick, too. Dark Paladin!"

"Oh, no. Now Brian can't play his best card," Téa said.

"She's right, but I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve," I thought. I drew another card and looked at it in desperation. "Another Blackland Fire Dragon?" I said in my head. I ended my turn without playing any cards and the magic that was holding my monsters in stasis vanished.

Alexis drew a card then giggled. "Here's one of my special cards. I need to remove two Light monsters from my graveyard in order to special summon Soul of Purity and Light!" she exclaimed. "She has the power to reduce your monsters' attack power by 300 when you attack." None of her monsters could take down my Dark Magician yet so she turned the duel back to me.

"First thing's first," I said. "I summon another Blackland Fire Dragon. Then I'll play Stamping Destruction to destroy your Luminous Spark magic card and inflict 500 damage to your life points!" Alexis wore an annoyed look after my move. "And I'll play my own Swords of Revealing Light. Dark Magician, attack Soul of Purity and Light!" My Magician's attack was dropped by 300 when it attacked, but it still won by 200.

"I switch my monsters to defense position and I'll pass this turn," Alexis said. It seemed like she had lost the will to go on.

"Good, a monster I can use," I thought after drawing. "I play Armed Dragon LV5 by sacrificing Blackland Fire Dragon." I finished off her last two monsters and ended my turn.

"I set two cards face down and end my turn," Alexis looked relieved. I knew this gambit all too well. Yugi used it on me awhile back. I was still going to bite, though. The entire tournament was riding on this match and I wasn't going to let up.

"I'll add Kaiser Sea Horse to my forces and attack your life points directly!" I called out.

"Not so fast," Alexis stopped me. "I play Scapegoat!" Four small monsters called Sheep Tokens appeared on her side of the field. I wiped out three of them with my monsters and ended my turn. The duel could still go either way. Alexis had 6200 life points left, but I was only 500 ahead of her. "I now summon Mystical Elf. And I'll play two magic cards called Dimensionhole. Each one removes one of my monsters from play until my next turn. And I'll activate my other face down card. It's a card called Raigeki Break. It allows me to destroy one card on the field, regardless of what it is. And I choose Dark Magician!" I looked on as my monster was removed from the field. Without monsters on the field, Alexis finished her turn.

"What is she doing?" Téa asked. "She's leaving herself wide open by taking her monsters out of play. It doesn't make sense."

"No, it makes perfect sense," I mentally corrected her. "She's protecting her monsters from being destroyed so she can summon a high level monster on her next turn." I drew my next card and my heart soared. I looked to my side, into Téa's eyes. Then I smiled and turned back to my opponent. "Now, Alexis, I hold here in my hand the card I used to register for this tournament. It's my newest card as well. With the sacrifice of my Kaiser Sea Horse, I summon my mighty Seiyariyu!" The pink dragon appeared on the field with a roar that sounded more like a hawk screech.

"Seiyariyu and Armed Dragon LV5, attack her life points directly!" I ordered my dragons. She was almost defeated, her life points sat at 1300.

"It's my turn now," Alexis said. I felt something different about her. She was more determined, as if her life depended on this duel. I could see a raging flame burning in her eyes, it was her warrior's spirit. I had never seen or felt anything like it. "Now that my two monsters are back on the field I'll sacrifice them to summon my own rare card, the one _I_ used to register. I call upon my Wingweaver! And I'll use it to take down your Armed Dragon LV5!"

Now Alexis had the upper hand. Sure, I had much more life points than she did but her monster was stronger than mine. There were a couple cards in my deck that could win it for me, but could I draw them? I had one card in my hand. Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. It was no good to me. I was surprised by the next card I drew. "I play the card you gave me, Alexis. I play Graceful Charity!" I noticed that her face softened a bit when I played the card, but it quickly went back to pure determination. I drew three cards from my deck and discarded two, just as the card instructed me to.

"Brian, I know you can do it!" Téa cheered. "I believe in you!"

That's all the inspiration I needed. I looked down at my hand. "Didn't get what you needed?" Alexis asked challengingly.

"Actually, I have just what need to defeat you right now," I replied. "I'll use the magic card Elf's Light to power up Seiyariyu to 3300. Then I'll play another magic card called Double Medium. It doubles the effect of cards that increase or decrease a monster's attack or defense rating for one turn. Seiyariyu now has an attack power of 4100, enough to destroy your Wingweaver and wipe out the rest of your life points. Seiyariyu, attack with Shining Plasma!"

A bright orb of light shot out of my dragon's mouth and enveloped Alexis' Wingweaver. The resulting explosion created a blinding cloud of smoke. When it finally cleared, I saw Alexis on her knees. The fire that had been in her eyes a few moments ago was gone. She looked almost the same way she did before we began the duel. I walked over to her and knelt down to her level.

"I suppose you want these," She stuttered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her locater cards. Her hand was trembling and she dropped them on the ground. Her head hung and a few tears ran down her face. "I thought that if I worked hard enough, I could finally beat you."

"You did your best. That's what matters," I comforted her. She looked at me, her green eyes filled with tears. I stood up and changed my tone to be more serious. "Now, you call yourself a duelist, sitting there crying?" She then wiped her eyes and smiled. She gathered the locater cards she dropped and I helped her to her feet. "You put up a great fight."

"Here, these are yours," she said, handing me the locater cards. "Oh, and this too." She held out her Wingweaver card.

"I can't accept that," I told her. "It's your pride and joy. I just can't take it from you."

"Brian, you won!" Téa said, giving me a hug.

"I think we got off wrong," Alexis said. She stuck out her hand to Téa, who took it and shook hands with her. "I think you've found the one, Brian."

"What does that mean?" Téa asked me.

"It's a long story that I'll explain later," I replied.

"At any rate, it's good to see you finally made some friends," Alexis said. "If you're ever in the States again, look me up, okay? And thanks for that little kick in the butt just now."

"Sure thing," I responded. She turned and started to walk away. "Wait, you're not going to stay for the rest of the tournament?"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. "No," she said. "I've got places to go, people to see, you know how it is with me."

"Well, you're always welcome here," Téa told her, much to my surprise. Alexis thanked us then continued on her way.

"Now, then," I started. "Let's see if we can't find Joey and Yugi." I closed my eyes and focused on Joey first. I had become quite adept at using my Millennium Bracelet over the past few days and I quickly located him a few blocks away.

"What's up, Joey?" Tristan said when we caught up to him.

"Hey, you guys!" Joey replied. "I already won my first Battle City duel. Check out the card I picked up." He searched his deck and pulled out the card, Jinzo. "I won it from a kid named Espa Roba."

"Wow, great monster. Powerful, too," I said to him.

"Huh? I thought this was everyone for himself and if we met up we'd duel," Joey said. "So, you want to go up against the brilliant mind of Joey Wheeler, don't you?"

"No that's okay. Besides I'm already qualified for the finals," I responded. Then I flashed my six locater cards.

"What? Already? That's not fair…" Joey said sadly.

"Don't worry about it," I assured him. "Most of these guys are pushovers."

"Well, I know a pushover I could take down," Joey said with a grin. "He's a little guy named Weevil."

"Weevil's here?" Tristan asked.

"Ugh. I can't stand that guy," Téa added.

And off we went to find Weevil, much to everyone's distaste. Eventually, we found the runt and Joey beat him. Tristan kept saying it was luck, but we all knew better. Joey had come from near defeat and crushed Weevil and his insects. Joey's new cards were Insect Queen and Weevil's two locater cards. We walked all over the city looking for Yugi. As we walked past the aquarium and saw a sign sitting outside.

I glanced at the sign quickly, without thinking. Then I noticed something. "Hey, Joey? Doesn't that look like that Mako guy we saw this morning?" I asked.

"It _is_ Mako," Téa said. I gave her a funny look. She looked at me and explained. "We met him at Duelist Kingdom."

"So, what's he doing playing with fish? There's a tournament going on!" Joey exclaimed. He sounded really annoyed. Joey then stomped into the aquarium, hands balled into fists and teeth clenched.

"One of these days his temper is going to get himself in some major trouble," Tristan commented as we followed him.

"Yeah. And, knowing Joey, he'll drag the rest of us into it," Téa agreed.

Joey found Mako and challenged him to a duel, right next to the whale show. Tristan, Téa, and I took seats in the bleachers to watch. Everyone was more excited to see the duel than the regularly scheduled show. Once again, Joey won by the skin of his teeth. He had beat him using Panther Warrior in unison with Kunai with Chain and Lightning Blade. Joey received The Legendary Fisherman and Fortress Whale from Mako along with the last two locater cards he needed for the finals.

When we left the aquarium, Joey was ecstatic. He proudly marched out of the building singing the tune to some song we couldn't identify. Tristan suggested that it was something that played constantly in his head. As we laughed at the comment, Téa's phone rang. She answered it and quickly handed it to Joey.

"Yello?" he said into it. "Hey, Serenity. How's it going?…Aw, thanks sis…Really? Great! Now you can come watch me in the finals!…Uh-huh, see you later." He turned the phone off and gave it back to Téa then told us the good news. "Serenity can take off the bandages later tonight. I just need someone to go get her and bring her here. How 'bout you, Brian?"

I looked sadly at Téa. I wanted to stay with her, as my inspiration for dueling. Tristan, on the other hand, was practically jumping to go. After careful consideration, something we had never expected from Joey, he let him go. "What harm could he possibly do?" Joey asked after Tristan had raced off. "Now, off to find Yugi!"

I suddenly felt something, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I stopped at looked up at the sky, which had suddenly been covered by dark, menacing storm clouds. "Looks like rain," Téa said. I didn't look away from the sky. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I don't know," I replied. "There's a lot of storm clouds, but the temperature hasn't changed. Something about it just doesn't feel right." I saw something else in the distance. It looked like a pillar of bright yellow light. "I think I know where Yugi is…" I said pointing in the direction of the light.

Téa and Joey looked at it for a second or two and took off running towards it. "I hope Yugi is alright," Téa commented.

"Me too, Téa," I thought as I followed them. "This can't be anything good."


	6. Marik Surfaces

I thought chapter 5 went rather well, how about you? If you have been paying attention to the notes at the beginning of each chapter, you'll know that I don't own anything in this story except the original characters, etc. And yes,my Skarra _is _starting to sound like Teal'c. In this chapter something pretty interesting is going to happen. What is it? You'll have to read to find out. Here's chapter 6.

Chapter 6: Marik Surfaces

"I hope Yugi is alright," Téa commented.

"Me too, Téa," I thought. "This is not going to be good."

Joey, Téa, and I were running through the city, pushing through the crowds, searching for our friend. The light we had seen in the sky had disappeared and we had lost track of where we were going. The feeling of dread that I had had disappeared, but I was still apprehensive. We stopped at a street corner and looked around for some sign of what happened.

"I don't see anything," Téa noted. "Are you sure this is where you sensed him?"

"I'm positive," I replied. "This is right where it originated."

"But, there's no one here," Joey said. He was right. There was no one in sight at all. "This place is emptier than Tristan's skull."

"We could do without the bad puns, Joey," Téa scolded him.

Out of nowhere, several men, wearing some sort of ceremonial robes, stepped out of the shadows of the alleys. Joey and I took up defensive stances on either side of Téa, ready to fight if the need arose.

"How many you count Joey?" I asked him.

"Ten, eleven," he responded.

"Same here," I told him. "These the same guys that jumped you before?" He made an affirmative sound. One of them, obviously the leader, stepped forward.

"You will come with us," He said. "Resist and we cannot guarantee your safety."

"Try to get us and we can't guarantee _your_ safety," Joey challenged. Tristan's comment earlier today was coming true. Joey's mouth had gotten us into a lot of trouble. But he was still right, if they came after us, Joey and I were going to fight them.

_Fight. I will assist you._

"No time to argue with that," I thought as our would-be captors approached us. "Now or never!" I lunged at one of them and hit him square in the face with my right fist, a blow that sent him flying three feet. I didn't hesitate and hit another in the back of the neck with my left elbow as soon as my feet hit the ground again.

"Cease your attack at once, or your friends die!" the leader of the group threatened.

I spun around to take on the leader and drew a breath in fear. Unconscious, Joey had been subdued by his assailants and the leader had Téa in front of him and held a knife to her throat. "No…Téa…" I said under my breath. "I…I surrender." I looked into my loved one's eyes and saw the fear that overwhelmed her. Before I realized it, a hand placed something over my face and my thoughts grew dim.

* * *

I woke up a few moments later in a familiar place. I was on my back staring into the black clouds of the Shadow Realm. I sat up and scanned the perimeter of where I was sitting. It was the same place I always appeared when I went to study the Temple of Abydos. An outstretched hand appeared in front of me. I looked up to see that it belonged to Skarra. I grunted as he helped me up. Even though my mind was separate from my body in the Shadow Realm, it still hurt.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I replied. "What happened?"

"Something knocked you out and your body began to suffocate," he explained. "I saved you by pulling your mind here."

"I _will_ recover, right?" I asked.

"Yes, of course," he assured me. "But I suggest we do something new. A ritual that I recently discovered."

"Elaborate," I told him.

"It is called a soul fusion," he continued. "Our minds will join as one. You will gain my strength, my knowledge, my power. This will benefit us greatly in this fight."

"I don't know about this," I said. "If I go through with it, I won't be the same person my friends know and Téa loves. I don't think I can do that to them."

"That will not happen," Skarra responded. This new development drew my attention. "Your thoughts are crucial to our existence and your determination far surpasses mine. They will not be suppressed. When the effect is complete, the stronger abilities and emotions will take over. Over time, the merge will not be noticed by anyone."

I thought about it for a few minutes. "Okay, let's try it," I agreed. I watched as Skarra gathered what he needed for the ritual. Among the items were several candles and a large torch. It looked more like a bon fire than a ritual site. "So, where did you put the marshmallows?" I joked.

"There are no marshmallows in the ritual," he replied. I hoped that I got to keep my sense of humor after this. "There everything is ready."

Skarra and I sat face to face with the torch between us. Skarra chanted some words in Egyptian and the ritual began. At first nothing happened, then I felt a strain on my mind. The sudden pain that jolted through my body was excruciating. I screamed and my muscles tensed. Another sharp pain attacked me, this time it tore through my heart. My thoughts turned to Téa right before I blacked out.

* * *

When I regained consciousness, all of the pain from the ritual had vanished, but I still felt weak. I felt that my head was elevated slightly and a soft hand was caressing my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes and looked straight into Téa's face.

"Oh, Brian," she whispered to me. "Thank heavens you're alive. I was so scared that you wouldn't wake up."

I tried to tell her I was fine, but I couldn't find my voice and I was too weak to sit up. Téa was resting my head in her lap. It didn't seem like she was injured, but I really couldn't tell. She told me to just rest for awhile and I did for an hour or so. Eventually, I regained some of my strength and ability to talk. My weakness was caused by the strain of the ritual. Somehow I knew that. I didn't know how I knew it, I just did.

"Téa, are you hurt?" I asked after awhile. She shook her head no. "That's good." We sat next to each other with our backs against a stack of boxes. We were in some sort of warehouse, where we didn't know. I had been out cold and Téa had been blind folded on the way here. We were separated from Joey for a reason we couldn't think of.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open and two thugs that had ambushed us appeared in the door way. They were carrying a kid between them. The prisoner had long black hair and was kicking and screaming, trying to get free. His captors threw him into the room with me and Téa and slammed the door shut behind them. The kid then got up and started pounding on the door.

"Let me out of here!" he yelled. "When my big brother gets here, he's gonna beat the snot out of you!" After his tantrum, he kicked the door.

"Mokuba?" Téa asked as she stood up.

"Huh? Téa!" he cried out and took a step towards us. He looked at me with a puzzled look. "Who are you?"

"Captured like you, for the moment," I replied. I then remembered Téa's explanation of who he was. "Brian Matthews. I'm a friend of Yugi and a member of your brother's tournament."

"Any idea what this is about, Mokuba?" Téa asked him.

"They're probably after my bracelet," I tried. "Why they haven't taken it yet is beyond me."

"No, they're after the Egyptian God cards," Mokuba informed us.

"Okay, that makes sense. But why have they captured us?" I wondered.

"Because my brother has one card and Yugi has another," he continued.

"What? Yugi had one of the Egyptian God cards this entire time?" Téa questioned. "And Kaiba has one, too? Ishizu never told us that." I nodded in agreement.

"So, you guys met Ishizu, as well?" Mokuba said, a little surprised. "I should have figured you would. The stone tablet with Yugi and Seto on it threw us for a loop. Anyway, Seto and I just watched Yugi win Slifer the Sky Dragon from one of Marik's Rare Hunters."

"Marik? So he's the one behind this?" I asked. Mokuba nodded. "Okay first let's get out of here then we'll go take out this Marik guy." With the help of Téa and Mokuba, I stacked up a bunch of boxes high enough to get out of a sky light. Together, Téa and I hoisted Mokuba up first.

"We're at the docks," Mokuba informed us upon getting out.

I pulled myself up and reached my hand down to Téa. The door down below was suddenly opened and the pyramid of boxes fell, along with Téa.

"Go! Get out of here!" she shouted at me. "Get Yugi!"

I clenched my teeth and pounded my fist on the roof. "I promise, I'll be back for you!" I called back. I turned and swore in Egyptian. Skarra's knowledge was starting to kick in. I saw Mokuba slide down a gutter at the end of the roof. I stepped up to the edge and simply jumped off. I landed on the ground and dropped to a knee. For some reason it didn't hurt. Skarra's abilities were really coming in handy.

"How did you do that?" Mokuba asked me after I landed.

"I'll explain later," I told him. "Right now we need to track down Yugi and your brother."

"Right. I need to get to a phone," he said. "If I can contact tournament head quarters, I can find Seto and Yugi using the tracking system in their duel disks."

"That'll take too long," I said. I held up my hand and closed my eyes. I could sense everyone in the city. I quickly found Yugi about a quarter of a mile away. Skarra was right, the fusion was helping out, a lot. "Mokuba, follow me. This way."

I led Mokuba away from the docks and into the city. I confidently tracked Yugi as we moved, which seemed kinda easy with my new-found power. We turned a corner and saw Yugi and Seto Kaiba at the end of the block.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba shouted in disbelief. They rushed over to us, Kaiba embracing his little brother.

"Brian, where are the others?" Yugi asked me.

"Tristan wasn't with us when we were taken," I explained. "Hopefully, he's still alright. They knocked me out with something. While I was unconscious, Joey was taken somewhere else. I had to leave Téa behind during our escape." I suddenly felt really bad about it. "I shouldn't have left her…"

"It will be fine. Let's go get her back," Yugi said. He turned to leave when Kaiba told him to stop. "Kaiba, I told you that you will have your duel when my friends are safe. Not before."

Kaiba let out an amused laugh. "I was just going to suggest that we take one of my helicopters," he said. "But if you want to take forever getting back on foot, that's your prerogative." Just as he finished, a Kaiba Corp helicopter hovered down to pick us up. "Mokuba, how did you find us so quickly?" he asked after we had filed on.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," Mokuba responded. "Brian was able to detect where you guys were somehow."

"I used my Millennium Bracelet," I explained. "It has the power to…"

"I've had enough of this Millennium Item nonsense," Kaiba interrupted. "You're a bunch of fools if you actually believe that this magic exists."

"It does exist, Kaiba," Yugi said. "I'm living proof of that."

"Please. Spare me this ridiculous trash," Kaiba replied.

"It's true Kaiba," Yugi continued. "I'm actually not Yugi, but a five thousand year old pharaoh."

Kaiba didn't respond to this, but instead looked at me. "And what part do you play in this charade?"

I glared at him. "I was skeptical at first, too. Then this changed my mind." I held up my right arm with my bracelet on it. "I hope nothing bad has happened to Téa," I added sadly.

"I don't know what you idiots see in that little cheerleader," Kaiba stated. "It's pathetic."

"Hey, who's that down there?" Mokuba pointed to a figure standing out on the dock.

"It's Joey," I said to Yugi. "Something's wrong though. I can barely sense his spirit. It's like trying to see him through a blanket." A few seconds later, our ride landed and Yugi and I jumped out and started to run down the dock toward Joey. He was just standing there with no guards or anything.

"Stop right there!" a dark voice shouted. It took me a few seconds to realize that the voice came from Joey. "Only Yugi may approach."

"Marik!" Yugi shouted. "Release him at once!"

"Yugi, I don't see anyone but Joey," I said to him.

"Marik has a Millennium Item," Yugi explained. "It has the power to control other people's minds. He's been controlling all of his Rare Hunters the entire time."

"Yugi," another voice said. "You will duel Joey for the possession of Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Millennium Puzzle right now."

We turned to look for who had said that. I gasped when I saw it was Téa who had said it. She was flanked by one of Marik's Rare Hunters. "Now, this has gone too far," I muttered.

"Marik, let them go and I'll play your game," Yugi said.

"You know I can't do that, Pharaoh," the voice from Joey said. "Your opponent will be me, but I will be using Joey's body!"

"Looks like Wheeler has finally gone off the deep end," Kaiba laughed.

"I'd watch what you say, Kaiba. I'm coming after you next," Marik said through Joey. "Now, Pharaoh, just to make sure you don't back down to save yourself, if you don't duel me right now, Téa will have an…unfortunate accident." Joey's body pointed in Téa's direction. I followed his indication and looked above Téa in horror. A crane was holding a large steel crate above her head. Téa sat in a chair under the crate and the Rare Hunter hit a button that strapped her to it then climbed into the control chair of the crane.

Yugi looked at me. "This has gone on long enough. If you duel Marik, I may be able to trace where he's controlling them from," I told him. "Just drag out the battle as long as possible so I can get a definite position."

"I'll do my best," Yugi replied. "Fine Marik. I'll duel you, but first release Téa."

"Of course, I wouldn't want her to miss your destruction," Marik replied. I watched Téa's head drop and felt Marik release his hold on her. Suddenly, she brought her head back up and looked around until she found me.

"Brian! What's going on?" she shouted and struggled against her restraints. "I can't get free! Help me!"

"Téa, stay calm!" I shouted back at her. "I'll get you out of there soon!"

"Before we begin out duel, there is one other rule I forgot to mention," Marik continued. "Both of us will be chained to the anchor that hangs over the water. When one duelist wins the box in front of us will open. Inside is a key that will unlock your shackles. Thirty seconds after one of the boxes opens the anchor will drop taking the loser to the bottom of the ocean. Don't think that stalling will help you either. If a winner is not declared in forty minutes, the anchor will take both of you down." The Marik controlled Joey turned his attention to me and the Kaiba brothers. "As for you three, if you move from that spot, I'll crush Téa!"

The duel between Yugi and "Marik" commenced. Early on, Yugi had taken control from Yami in order to try to get through to the real Joey. Yugi fought a defensive battle, but fell victim to several Hinotama magic cards. Eventually, the duel was down to the wire. Yugi was using a deteriorating Red Eyes Black Dragon against his friend, to whom he had given his Millennium Puzzle.

A car pulled up a few moments later and out piled Tristan, Duke, Serenity, and Mai. They came up to me and asked what was going on, but there wasn't time to explain. Joey was starting to come back to his senses and I could feel Marik's control slipping away. There was a sudden jump in Marik's power as he forced Joey to make the final move.

"Now I play Meteor of Destruction!" he called out. "With this card I'll finish you off!"

"Not so fast Marik," Yugi huffed. He was exhausted from the duel. "I activate Magical Rant Panel. It stops your magic card and allows me to choose the target of it." He thought about his decision for a few minutes. I looked at my watch. The allotted time for the match was almost expired and soon that anchor would drop, taking both of them with it. "The target I choose…is myself." The attack launched itself at Yugi, wiping out the rest of his life points. Yugi then collapsed from the attack.

Seeing his friend fall broke Joey free of Marik's control completely. "Red Eyes attack me!" he cried out, taking advantage of Magical Rant Panel's second effect. The attack took the rest of his life points as well and both boxes containing the keys were opened.

"Time to put my plan into action," Kaiba said coolly. He pressed on the insignia on his lapel and said "Now!" A second later a helicopter swooped in and knocked the crane off the dock. Mokuba then rushed to Téa's aid. I was about to follow him when Joey swung himself over to Yugi and grabbed the key from his box. Then the anchor fell and took Yugi and Joey with it.

I rushed down the wooden dock, removing my duel disk and deck belt. I dropped them by the water's edge and dove in after my two friends. They had already dropped several yards and I thought I'd never find them until I saw Yugi floating free. I grabbed him and pulled him to the surface. Everyone, save Kaiba and Mokuba, had followed me down the dock.

"Oh no, Yugi…" Téa said after I had appeared at the surface.

I quickly swam to the dock, where Tristan dragged Yugi out of the water. "Joey must not have his key," I told them. "I didn't see him down there. Give me the key, I'm going back down."

"I'm on it," Duke replied. He ran across the wooden boards to Joey's box. He looked in and a terrified look came across his face. "It's gone! The key is missing!"

"What? It has to be there!" I cried after everyone's gasps. A sudden splash drew our attention.

"What the heck was that?" Tristan asked.

I clung to the dock near Téa. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pile of bandages sitting on the ground. "Serenity? No, it couldn't be…could it?" I thought to myself. I turned back to the water just in time to see Serenity break the surface, pulling Joey up with her. "Joey!" I reached my arm out and helped Serenity hold up her brother until Tristan and Duke pulled him out. Then they helped Serenity out and I helped myself out, since Tristan and Duke were too busy with Serenity.

Yugi and Joey eventually came around and appeared to be fine. We all were sitting at the edge of the dock looking at the sunset. The four of us that had been in the water were wrapped in blankets that Mai just happened to have in her car.

"Hey, Kaiba. Thanks for saving Téa," I said to him.

"Whatever," he replied as he and Mokuba turned to leave. "You helped out my brother, now my debts are paid. I expect to see you in the finals, Yugi, so I can take your Egyptian God card."

"I guess that's Kaiba's way of saying you're welcome," Joey said after they had left.

He was sitting between Mai and Serenity, with the latter he was sharing a blanket with since Mai only had three. To Joey's left was Mai, then Tristan and Duke, whom Joey had forced to sit far away from his sister. Next to them was Yugi then me and Téa. Four of us were wet and freezing, but everyone was glad that there were no injuries.

"We owe you some thanks as well, Brian," Yugi said to me.

"Yeah, you really saved our butts back there," Joey added.

"Oh, you guys don't owe me any thanks. I was just following my instincts," I told them.

"Well give this to your instincts," Téa said before she kissed me on the cheek.

I looked at her and she gave me a sweet smile. "I guess I can take _some_ credit," I said. Téa snuggled my shoulder and everyone laughed.

"There's just one more thing to do," Mai said. She activated her duel disk and placed her locater cards on it. A huge holographic map of Domino appeared in front of us.

"Congratulations finalist," came a robotic voice. A red dot began blinking on the map. "You are required to report to this location to participate in the finals. If you do not report, you will be disqualified."

"Kaiba sure knows how to get a point across," Mai noted after the hologram shut down.

"Okay, let's see," Joey started. "I qualified. So did Mai, Yugi, and Brian. Kaiba has a spot without a doubt. And probably Marik, too. So, that's six."

"Looks like the other two are a mystery right now," I said. "For me, that just adds to the fun."

"You'll might have to fight Yugi or Joey. Aren't you worried?" Téa asked me.

"Not really," I replied. "As long as they don't go easy on me, just because I'm their friend."

"All right, then," Yugi said as he stood up. "Off to the finals!"


	7. Breakdown

No additions to disclaimers yet. Probably won't need anymore. This chapter is entitled 'Breakdown' for the ending. But for the ending to happen the beginning has to go through. You'll figure it out. As for the happenings, Téa and Brian are on fire. Not literally. They are desperate for some alone time but people keep interrupting. It had to be this way to prevent the rating from going to M, if you know what I mean. There's a few moments where it seems like something my friend, Lizzie, would think up. I think there's a duel in there somewhere, too. Oh well, here's chapter 7.

Chapter 7: Breakdown

"Off to the finals!" Yugi had said that an hour ago. We had been wandering around looking for the meeting place for the finals. Of course, it was probably no surprise we were lost. We _were_ following Joey after all.

"I know it's around here somewhere," Joey said as he walked in front of us.

"Joey, let someone else lead. All you've done is take us around in a circle," Téa said. She sounded pretty annoyed.

"A circle? What makes you think that?" Joey responded.

"Well, for one, there's Mai's car," Téa answered.

That started a big argument about who should lead. Yugi tried to break it up, Mai just stood there and laughed, and I smiled. The smile quickly faded and I silently slipped away from the group. I walked to the end of the block and sat on the curb. I had suddenly felt like a stranger, as if I didn't belong there. It was like I didn't know who I was anymore. Maybe it was a side effect of that crazy ritual that Skarra and I did. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I ignored it at first, thinking it was Téa.

"Are you okay?" a voice said. To my surprise, it wasn't Téa. I looked over and saw Serenity standing over me.

"Uh…yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about which way we should have gone," I answered quickly. I added a nervous laugh at the end.

Instead of saying "alright" and walking away she sat down next to me. "I want to thank you for helping my brother out today and yesterday."

"It was nothing, really," I replied. "I was just helping a friend."

"Well, it means a lot to me," she said and scooted closer to me. "There is something else that you can do that would mean a lot to me."

I could see where she was going with this and I wasn't going to buy into it. "I'm sorry, Serenity. I love Téa," I informed her. I felt kinda bad about rejecting her, though. "Look, you're a nice girl and I'm sure that you'll find someone that loves you someday."

"Oh…I understand," she said sadly. "I just thought…"

Before she could finish the thought, Téa sat down on my other side, which made me feel more awkward than I already felt. "Something wrong, sweetie?" she asked me. She had started calling me that a lot since a few days ago.

I looked at Serenity out of the corner of my left eye and turned to Téa and smiled. "No, nothing at all!" I said. "Serenity was just thanking me for helping out Joey."

"I think we've decided that you're best person to lead us to the location of the finals," Téa told me. "I suggested you could use your…unique tracking skills."

I stood up and noticed that everyone had gathered around me. "Okay, no pressure," I said under my breath. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and set my powers to work. The city appeared in my mind like a satellite photograph. I could sense everyone in the city, but I was looking for one person in particular. Seto Kaiba. I located him a mile away and I relayed the address to the others. Yugi knew exactly where it was, so he led us down the street. I hung back a few feet and trudged slowly behind them. Téa slowed her pace little by little until she was back with me. She pretended that she wasn't trying to hold my hand and it was an accident that our hands kept touching. After a few times, she simply took my hand in hers.

"Okay, Brian, you can't hide it from me. I know you too well," Téa said.

I looked into her face and sighed. "You're right, Téa. There _is_ something bothering me. But I don't want to talk about it here. We'll talk later, when we're alone."

Téa gave me a sad nod and a kiss. Soon everyone stopped and looked up at a huge stadium. "Boy, when Kaiba throws a tournament, he really throws it," Mai said in astonishment. We casually wandered in and found the two Kaibas standing in the middle of the arena. I looked around at what appeared to be seats, the strange thing was, they were completely empty.

"It's about time you guys showed up," Mokuba said with a grin.

"They're late probably because they followed Wheeler the Bloodhound," Kaiba laughed.

Duke and Tristan held back an infuriated Joey, telling him that _had_ been the reason they were late. As we approached the CEO and his brother, another figure appeared from a second entrance.

"Hey, isn't that Bakura?" Téa asked. "Isn't he supposed to be in the hospital?"

"Hi, everyone!" Bakura said with a slight English accent.

"Bakura! What are you doing here?" Yugi asked. "And why are you wearing a duel disk?"

"Well, I'm in the finals," came the nervous reply. Then he pulled out his six locater cards. "See? I won all of them at once from a kid named Bonz."

We all stared at him in surprise. Then I felt an almost overwhelming wave of darkness. I sensed Yugi and Yami switch out at the same time. They must have felt it as well.

"Marik…" both of us said at the same time.

"Marik? This is the guy that took over my body?" Joey started. "I'm gonna mess him up!"

"Cool it, Wheeler," Kaiba commanded. "I finally meet you face to face, Marik. After we duel, your Winged Dragon of Ra will be mine. So let's start the finals."

"Shouldn't we wait for the eighth duelist, Seto?" Mokuba asked. Kaiba responded with a no. "Okay, then. Kaiba Craft Three, you are clear for landing."

"Landing? What's going on here?" I asked.

"This is only the meeting place for the finals," Mokuba replied. "Our dueling site is up there." He pointed into the sky where a huge blimp was descending into the stadium. The craft touched down lightly and lowered a boarding ramp. "Alright, all aboard!" Mokuba instructed us. We were each given a key card marked with a number. I figured it was for something on the blimp. Kaiba was the first to board followed by Marik and the rest of the finalists. I was last up the ramp.

"Hold it right there!" someone shouted. I turned to look and saw that the non-duelists were being held from getting on. "Only finalists can board."

"Can't you bend the rules, Mokuba? Just this once?" I asked him. I really wanted Téa with me for this.

"Let them aboard, Kimo," Mokuba ordered.

"But, sir, they don't have a key card-" the guard started to say but Mokuba cut him off.

"Hey, I don't even have a card and I'm allowed on," he said. "There's no other problems, right Kimo?" Kimo shook his head after the threat and stepped aside. Then Tristan thanked Mokuba and they trotted up the stairs on the ramp.

Inside the blimp was bigger than I had expected it to be. Then Mokuba got our attention to make an announcement. "The cards you hold in your hands is your room number as well as your duelist number. We will be lifting off in a few minutes, so go ahead and get settled in," he explained. "Shortly after take off, there will be a buffet and, an hour after that, the first two duelists will be chosen, followed immediately by their duel."

After Mokuba's speech, we all turned to find our rooms. I found mine easily and went in. Taking a brief survey, I realized that it looked like a hotel room. A slight twinge revealed to me that someone else had boarded the aircraft. I passed it off as the eighth finalist just as a metallic knock resounded through the room. I went over and opened the door and saw Téa.

"Hi, is this a good time to talk?" she asked. I nodded and sat down on the bed that was installed in the room. Téa pulled a chair over and sat in it directly in front of me. "Okay, tell me what's wrong."

"It's kinda hard to explain," I began. "Remember when I was knocked out while those Rare Hunters locked us up? Well, Skarra took me to the Shadow Realm for awhile." I looked at Téa. Her face had the same expression as when I told her my story a week ago. "He told me about a ritual that might help us fight Marik. It was a ritual to fuse our souls as one."

"Okay, and did something bad happen during it?" Téa questioned.

"I think the ritual worked," I continued. "But something just hasn't felt right since it happened. I don't know what it is exactly. I just don't feel like I belong here, I don't know who I am anymore."

"You aren't questioning _us,_ are you?" she asked. It sounded like she could start crying at any moment. I thought about her question for a minute. It was a very good question. I was questioning _everything_ at this point, but I didn't want to tell her that, it would break her heart.

"No, of course not," I comforted her. I thought a little more about it. I really did still love her. "That's the only thing I'm absolutely sure of. I just have a lot to sift through. All of Skarra's memories, feelings, knowledge, my thoughts, the tournament, Marik…it's just too much for me to handle right now. But the thing is I _have_ to handle it now."

"Don't worry, we can get through this together," she said and placed her hand on my shoulder. "I promised that I would be there for you and that's a promise I intend to keep."

"I love you, Téa," I said sincerely and smiled.

"I love you, too, Brian," she replied. Then she practically leaped out of the chair, wrapping her arms around me. I put my arms around her waist as she fell on top of me and I melted into the kiss she planted on my lips.

A crackle and voice from an intercom interrupted our moment and brought us back to our senses. "Attention duelists and guests," Mokuba's voice came through loud and clear. "We have left the ground and the buffet is open to everyone."

Téa and I sat up and giggled. I was a little embarrassed at what almost happened. "Shall we go?" I asked Téa and took her hand. When we exited the room, we heard a loud thumping sound that got steadily louder. I quickly yanked Téa back into my room just in time to save her from Joey, who was running at full speed down the hall yelling "FOOD!"

I peeked out the door to check for any other danger. Téa and I exited the room again, this time with more caution. We were looking in the direction Joey had gone when someone cleared his throat behind us.

"And what do we have here?" I turned and saw Tristan standing there grinning. Behind him, were the rest of our friends, well, all of them except Joey. "So what have _you_ been doing?"

I blushed when I realized I was still holding Téa's hand, but I didn't let go. I was unsure about most of my life right now, but this was one thing I knew was part of me. "What? Never seen a couple holding hands before?" I asked him. Everyone laughed and we walked together to the room where the food was. When we arrived, we saw that Joey was already at work with four plates full of food.

"Yeah, I'm not hungry," Tristan commented after we sat down with Joey, who was cramming food into his mouth nonstop, with barely enough time to chew. Some of us ate, some stared at Joey in horror, and others, namely me, just enjoyed the company of the others. After an hour, and promptly an hour, Mokuba announced that the first match was going to be chosen. With that, we filed into the next room where a machine sat. It was designed to look like a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"The competitors will be chosen randomly by lottery," Mokuba explained. "Each ball in the machine is marked with a number that corresponds to your key card. Two will be randomly selected and those two duelists will report to the upper deck to begin their duel. Now, Roland, will you do the honors.

The official standing next to the machine flipped a switch that started the selection process. "Remember your numbers duelists," he stated. Soon the first ball rolled out on to a tray on the front. "And the first duelist is…duelist number 5! Brian Matthews!"

My jaw dropped a little. I didn't expect to be picked first. Téa squeezed my hand and whispered a good luck in my ear. We watched in suspense as the next duelist was chosen. The second ball followed soon after and Roland picked up and announced my opponent's name. "The next duelist is…number 4! Joey Wheeler! Both of you report to the upper deck immediately begin your duel. Guests and other duelists are welcome to watch."

Joey and I stepped into an elevator that took us up to the upper deck. We rode in silence to the top. When the doors opened, a chilling wind blew into the elevator car. The "upper deck" was actually the top of the blimp. There was a elevated arena for the match as well. The two of us climbed a small stair case up to the arena and took up positions on either side. On my left stood Seto and Mokuba Kaiba and on my right was Téa and the others. Thankfully, Marik wasn't anywhere to be seen, but neither was that mysterious eighth duelist.

"Brian Matthews versus Joey Wheeler," Roland declared. "Let the duel begin!"

Joey went first. He drew a card and looked at his hand. Then he started to giggle to himself. A gust of wind blew across the playing field and Joey's cards scattered away through the air. He quickly snagged all of them before they got away.

"C'mon Joey focus!" Tristan called out.

"Hey, Joey needs all the support we can give him," Serenity butted in. "Nice catch big brother!"

"Good grief. How naïve is she?" I asked myself. I kept my attention on my opponent and spoke out loud. "I'm expecting a good match from you, Joey. Keep your focus on the game."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just getting some exercise, warming up," he replied. "I summon Alligator's Sword in defense mode and end my turn there."

"I set two cards face down and summon Masked Dragon in attack mode," I began my turn. "Then I'll play my Mountain magic card. It increases the attack and defense of all dragon, winged beast, and thunder monsters by 200 points. And now Masked Dragon will destroy your Alligator's Sword!"

The dragon lashed out and shattered Joey's monster. Since it was in defense mode, there was no damage to his life points. "Not to shabby, but you ain't gonna beat me with those lame attacks," he said calmly. "Now I set this card face down and summon Tiny Wing Guard in attack mode. Gimme your best shot."

"Alright, you asked for it," I told him. "I summon Gray Wing and I'll use it's special ability by discarding one card from my hand. Gray Wing can now attack twice this turn. Now Masked Dragon attack his Wing Guard!"

"You walked right into my trap. Go Skull Dice!" Joey exclaimed.

"Nice try. Reveal face down card, Trap Jammer!" I countered. "This baby negates a trap card that you activate during the battle phase." My monster continued its attack and destroyed Tiny Wing Guard and took 300 life points. "Gray Wing attack his life points. Twice!" Another 3000 was lost. "You're going to have to do better than that to beat me, Joey."

"Fine, then. I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!" Joey stated his next turn. "Gearfried, attack and destroy Gray Wing!" I lost my monster and 300 of my own life points on that move. "Is that better?"

"At least it's not a shut out anymore," I replied. "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards from my deck." I looked at my cards and tried to think up some sort of strategy. "I summon Koumori Dragon in defense mode and switch Masked Dragon to the same position. I end my turn."

"I summon Rocket Warrior and I'll use it to destroy your Koumori Dragon," Joey stated his next move. "And now say bye-bye to your other dragon. Gearfried, attack!"

"Thanks, Joey," I said to him. He looked confused, as did Téa and the others. "When Masked Dragon is destroyed in battle, I get to summon another dragon to the field. I select Red Eyes Black Chick!"

"Red Eyes Black _Chick_?" Tristan asked from the sidelines. "It looks like a Red Eyes Black Dragon, but it's smaller and weaker. Why would he play that in an important match like this?"

"Brian knows what he's doing," Téa responded. "He's very experienced."

"Yeah, experienced in getting you alone with him," he snickered back.

Téa just glared at him. "I know you can do it, Brian!" she cheered after shutting Tristan up with her death glare.

I began my turn, ignoring Tristan's comments. I grinned to my self. I drew one of my Blue Eyes White Dragons and had Soul Exchange in my hand. I could summon it now, but I had other plans for my Chick. "Let my show you the hidden power of my Red Eyes Black Chick," I said to my rival. "I offer it as a tribute, to summon the adult form. Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

"What? No way! That can't be true!" Joey stuttered. "Yugi? You gave him that card?"

"No. I still have it," I heard Yugi respond. "This must be a different card."

"That's right Joey," I continued. "This is mine. Now make your move. I end my turn without attacking."

"I appreciate you going easy on me, but you really don't have to," Joey said. "I switch both of my monsters to defense position and summon Hayabusa Knight, also in defense mode. Then I'll set this card face down. Back to you, buddy."

My next card was Monster Reborn. I used it to revive my Masked Dragon. "Now prepare for one of my most powerful creatures," I told him. "I play Soul Exchange and I'll use your Hayabusa Knight and my Masked Dragon to summon my almighty Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

My monster drew startled gasps from everyone except Yugi and Téa, who had seen it before. Even Kaiba was taken by surprise. Joey just smiled. "I'm glad I finally got to see you play that monster," he said with a grin. "But I'm afraid it won't be around for long. I activate Trap Hole!"

"Hey, way to go Joey!" Serenity called from the sidelines.

"Nice job, man!" Tristan added.

"Brilliant move, Joey," I congratulated him. "But if you only knew that you were helping me out…"

"What's he talking about, Téa?" Mai asked. "You _are_ his girlfriend after all."

"I don't know," she replied. "He kept a few of his cards a secret, even from me."

"Well, I've heard of a card that draws power from monsters in the graveyard," Bakura spoke up. "But I thought it was just a rumor."

"It's your turn, Joey," I told him. "When I use Soul Exchange, I can't attack."

"I think I'll activate my magic card Roulette Spider," Joey declared his next move.

"I think I'll activate my facedown card, Magic Jammer," I countered. Joey just growled and ended his turn. I drew a card and began to laugh. "Are you ready to see the full power of my Red Eyes Black Dragon?"

"Full power? I think this is that card I mentioned," Bakura stated.

"I offer my Red Eyes Black Dragon as a tribute to call forth my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon!" I exclaimed. The Black Dragon disappeared and thick storm clouds formed above me. The clouds dropped a few lightning bolts and a huge blast of wind soared across the arena and, apparently, where the spectators were standing. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw everyone shielding themselves from the gusting winds. I withstood the wind, my hair blowing wildly, and watched my dragon descend from the epicenter of the swirling black clouds. The dragon, twice the size of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, landed in the middle of the arena and let out a loud roar. The gale winds died down but the pitch black clouds remained.

My friends stared at my monster in awe, even Kaiba was speechless. Eventually, Joey found his voice. "How strong is that thing?" he managed to get out.

"It has the same attack and defense as its predecessor," I replied. "But it has a special ability that gives it 300 attack points for each dragon in my graveyard. Guess what? I have seven dragons in there. That gives it 4500 attack power. And it still gains another 200 since Mountain is still active. Now behold my dragon's immense power. Red Eye Darkness Dragon, attack Rocket Warrior with your Shadow Mega Flare!" A ball of black fire formed in the dragon's mouth and it sat there for a second before launching itself at Joey's monster.

Joey wore an expression of pure horror, as did everyone else. He slowly drew a card and trembled as he looked at his cards. "There's nothing I can do now. I end my turn," he said weakly.

"My next card is useless right now, but I'll still wipe out your Iron Knight. Darkness Dragon attack!" I declared my next move. The attack had the same devastating effect as the last one did.

"I play Scapegoat!" Joey said as he made his move.

I drew another monster from my deck this time. "I summon Twin-Headed Behemoth, and I'll take out two of your Sheep Tokens," I said.

I heard Téa say something from the where she was standing on my right. "I hope this ends soon, I don't know how much longer I can watch."

"I'll sacrifice one of my Sheep Tokens to summon Jinzo in defense mode," Joey claimed.

"No more monsters, yet," I informed him. "But now the last of your defenses will fall!" Twin-Headed Behemoth took the life of his last Sheep Token and another Flare engulfed his Jinzo.

"I set one card face down and end my turn," Joey said half heartedly.

"I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down card and I'll finish you off," I said as I made the final move. "Red Eyes Darkness Dragon, annihilate him!"

My monster launched the final attack directly at Joey's life points. The force of the blast threw him on his back a few feet away from where he was standing. I then turned to Roland who was standing off to the side of the arena. It took him a few moments before he declared me the winner. When the holograms shut down, I walked over to where Joey was lying and helped him to his feet. Together, we stepped off the arena and joined Yugi and the others. They started congratulating me on my victory and I thanked Joey for the match. After Mokuba told us there would be a half hour intermission between the duels, our group headed back down the elevator.

About halfway down, I noticed something missing. "Where's Téa?" I asked them.

"She said something about not wanting to watch the match anymore and she rushed off during the duel," Tristan replied. After his explanation the doors of the elevator opened and I pushed my way out and rushed off to find Téa. "Hey, where're you going?"

"Just let him go," I heard Mai say as I left. "You can't stop him. He's in love."

I rushed around the blimp searching everywhere for my girlfriend. I eventually found her in the banquet hall sitting in a chair with her face in her hands. As I walked in, I could hear a muffled crying. She didn't notice me until I was bent down in front of her with my hand on her shoulder.

"Téa, tell me what's wrong," I begged her. She lifted her head up so it was level with mine. Tears were streaming down her face and she wore an expression of worry and fear. She didn't say a word. She just looked at me for a second and turned her gaze away. "Téa…please…" I whispered. She continued to keep her eyes off me and began to finally speak.

"That duel…you were…I couldn't…" she stuttered between sobs. I could barely make out the words. "You summoned that monster…you became…evil…"

I didn't believe what she said. After a few seconds, I recalled the match with Joey. When my monster descended to the field, I couldn't control myself. I just attacked and attacked with no regard for Joey or anyone else for that matter. All I cared about was winning that duel.

I dropped to my knees and stared at my hands through the tears that had formed in my eyes. "I couldn't control myself, Téa," I cried. "All I wanted to do was win. I just couldn't handle the power of that monster. I'm so sorry…" The tears that were in my eyes were now running down my cheeks. Téa then wiped the tears from my cheeks with her hand, something I didn't expect. I looked up at her, only to see her trying to smile.

"No, I'm sorry," She told me. "I should have known that you would never become evil. I was just so scared-" I stopped her speech with a passionate kiss, one that made us pull each other closer.

Someone, apparently desperate to break us up, cleared his throat several times. Not wanting to have one of our moments ruined twice in one day, Téa and I ignored him. We continued our kiss through to the last possible second before we broke it slowly. The two of us stood and stared lovingly into each other's eyes. I held Téa's hands in mine, pressed against my heart.

"You guys done?" Tristan asked.

"What is it?" I replied, not taking my eyes off Téa for a second.

"C'mon they're gonna pick the next duel," Joey piped up. "If we don't get going now, we're gonna miss it."

"Yeah, we're coming…" I said softly. Téa and I shared one more sweet kiss before turning to leave, hand in hand.


	8. Spirit Battle

I thought that the last chapter went quite well, how about you? Sorry to all the Joey fans out there, I had to kick someone out of the tournament to make room for Brian and I decided on removing Odion. My decision was between Bakura and Odion and I wanted to have Brian move on to the next round by utilizing REDD and it would be dumb to kick Yugi out of the tournament. As for the next few chapters, they will be the other duels in the finals. This one is the battle between Bakura and Yugi. I'm pretty sure that it is nearly completely accurate. The only thing wrong with it is the card that Yugi used to destroy Kuriboh. See, I put Foolish Burial. If you know what that card name really is, please let me know so I can adjust my data.

Chapter 8: Spirit Battle

"Roland, start the machine," Mokuba ordered. "Everyone remember your numbers."

Me and my seven friends filed into the selection room just as Mokuba made his announcement. I noted that Kaiba, Marik, and Bakura were already waiting. I had just finished my match with Joey not to long ago. It frightened me a little to look back on it. During the match I nearly lost myself, not to mention the love of my life.

"Have you seen that eighth duelist yet?" I whispered to Yugi, who was standing on my left.

He turned his head slightly to look at me. "Now that you mention it, I haven't," he replied. "I would think that he would have appeared to see at least one of the matches, to size up his opponents, at the very least."

"Unless…he already knows what is going to happen," I pondered.

Before Yugi could respond, Roland called the name of the next duelist. "The first duelist of the second match is…duelist number 7! Ryou Bakura!" he announced.

Most of us looked at the boy in question. He looked bewildered. "Hey, you okay, man? Tristan asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered quickly. "I'm just surprised that I was chosen so soon, is all." He finished with a laugh.

Roland cleared his throat to get our attention again. "The second duelist in the match is, duelist number 2, Yugi Moto! Will both duelists please proceed to the upper deck to begin your duel."

Yugi and Bakura stepped into the elevator that took them up to the dueling platform and everyone else took a second elevator to the spectators area. It was a bit warmer where we were standing and a lot less windy. "So what do you guys know about this Bakura guy?" I asked them.

"He's a classmate of ours," Téa explained. "He somehow got into Duelist Kingdom, but he was possessed by an evil spirit."

That worried me a little. I didn't have time to dwell on it too much because Yugi and Bakura stepped out onto the field a second later. Even Marik was sitting in on the other side of the booth this time. They took up sides on either side of the arena. Bakura had an evil look on his face and I sensed something totally different from him than when we were inside.

"Oh no, guys look!" Téa exclaimed. "That Millennium Ring is back!"

"What? I thought I got rid of that thing at Duelist Kingdom," Tristan questioned. "I swear I threw it into the woods."

"I doubt you can get rid of a Millennium Item that easily," I told him. "They seem to be able to find their way to their owners by themselves."

"Prepare for defeat, Yugi," Bakura snickered as he started the match. "I summon Headless Knight in attack position."

I was taken aback by his move. "Why is he playing such a weak monster in attack mode?" I wondered out loud. "Be careful, Yugi. He's got something planned."

Yugi didn't heed my warning. He summoned Gamma the Magnet Warrior and destroyed Bakura's weak monster. The attack only did 50 damage to Bakura's life points.

Bakura's next move was another shocker. "I summon The Portrait's Secret in attack mode!" He said with an evil smile.

"Now I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts!" Yugi declared his next move. "Gamma, destroy his monster and Gazelle, attack his life points!" Yugi's attack knocked Bakura's life points down to 6150. Yugi was still at 8000.

"How did Bakura get into the finals anyway?" Joey asked. "It's like he's not even trying."

"Something's not right," I said as I watched the match. "I don't care who you are, you don't get into a duel with a top duelist like Yugi and play a bunch of low level monsters without some sort of plan."

"Now, it's my move," Bakura said. "I summon The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams, again in attack mode."

"I sacrifice my Gazelle and summon Dark Magician Girl," Yugi stated. "Then I'll place this card face down, and attack your Ghost with Dark Magician Girl!" The monster destroyed Bakura's then Gamma took even more from him, leaving him at 3350.

Bakura began to laugh maniacally. "You played right into my hand, Yugi!" he shouted. "Haven't you wondered why I played so many weak monsters for you to destroy? It was to summon my most powerful creature! Come forth Dark Necrofear!"

"Oh no…it can't be…" I said in awe.

"You've heard of this card?" Téa asked me.

I nodded. "It's similar to my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon. It relies on monsters in the graveyard in order to be summoned."

"Are you serious?" Yugi asked me. He must have heard my explanation.

"Yes, he's right," Bakura said. "I had to remove the three monsters in my graveyard from play in order to summon this monster of darkness. And now it will destroy you! Dark Necrofear, attack Dark Magician Girl!"

"No! Activate face down card! Magic Formula!" Yugi said to counter the move. "This card powers up spellcaster monsters by 500 points!" Dark Necrofear's attack was countered and it was destroyed instead of Yugi's Dark Magician Girl.

Bakura had another fit of laughter. "You fool! Do you even know what power you have unleashed now?" he threatened. "When Dark Necrofear is destroyed it unleashes an evil essence known as Dark Sanctuary!"

I looked around as a dark cloud surrounded the two duelists as well as the spectators. Then several dark looking eyes opened in the sky around us. Serenity was frightened by this and clung safely to her brother.

"Oh man this is creepy," Téa murmured. I looked up at Yugi who appeared to have kept his cool through the whole ordeal.

Now I'll need to summon a monster then sacrifice it in order to keep Dark Sanctuary active," Bakura explained. "And I'll play The Dark Door. It prevents both of us from attacking with more than one monster per turn. And I'll play Destiny Board! And it will begin to spell out your doom, Yugi!" We watched as an 'F' appeared above Bakura.

"With no monsters on the field, you're wide open to a direct attack from any of my monsters," Yugi challenged.

"Well, then attack if you're so confident," Bakura responded with another evil grin.

"I will! Dark Magician Girl, attack!" Yugi exclaimed. The attack launched, but backfired and Yugi lost 1250 life points. "What? How…?"

"Surprised?" Bakura smirked. "There's a spirit that resides in Dark Sanctuary. And once each turn I use it to possess one of your monsters. When the possessed monster attacks, the attack is negated and half of its attack power is taken from your life points! And just so they aren't wasted, they'll be added to mine."

"It's a near perfect strategy," I said. "Only Bakura can see the spirit so Yugi has no idea which of his monsters are possessed. Since he can only attack with one monster, attacking is a huge gamble right now."

"There _is_ way to beat it, right?" Mai asked.

"Only one way I can think of and that's luck," I replied.

"Come on, guys. We need to be supporting Yugi here," Serenity scolded us. "Go, Yugi!"

"Now another letter will appear, an 'I' this time. Then I set this card face down," Bakura took his turn. "And I'll summon Sangan then sacrifice it to keep Dark Sanctuary. Sangan lets me draw a card from my deck when it goes from the field to the graveyard. Now it's your turn, Yugi."

"I'll summon Kuriboh in defense mode," Yugi stated. He though about his next move for a few moments before making it. "I'll attack your life points with Gamma the Magnet Warrior!" A grimace came to Bakura's face as the attack launched, this time it didn't backfire.

"Yes! Yugi picked the right one!" Tristan exclaimed.

Our small celebration ended when Gamma was a few feet from hitting its target. "Ha! I activate my trap card, Dark Spirit of the Silent!" Bakura laughed. "It stops your monsters attack and lets me choose another monster to attack. Attack me Dark Magician Girl!" The same effect happened as the last time she attacked. Yugi lost another 1250 life points, dropping him to 5500 and raising Bakura to 5750.

Yugi then ended his turn by placing a card face down. Bakura's next turn was an uneventful summoning of a monster then sacrificing it to keep Dark Sanctuary in power, but adding an 'N' to Destiny Board's message. Then Yugi was up again.

"I activate my trap card Collected Power! And transfer all magic card effects on the field to Kuriboh," he played. "And I'll use Foolish Burial to destroy Kuriboh!"

"Why is Yugi destroying his own monster?" Téa asked.

"I don't know…unless Collected Power put the spirit into Kuriboh as well as the rest of the card effects!" I said excitedly.

"What? No!" Bakura yelled in desperation. His comment confirmed my theory.

"Now, Dark Magician Girl, attack!" Yugi finished. With Yugi's devastating counter strike, Bakura's life points were down to 3750.

"And another letter appears," Bakura said as an 'A' appeared. "Now I'll set a card face down and summon a monster to sacrifice."

"I'll summon Big Shield Gardna in defense position," Yugi started. "And I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Necrofear!" When the monster was brought back, the effect of Dark Sanctuary dissipated.

"Hey, what happened?" a confused Joey asked.

"Of course," Duke explained. "When Dark Necrofear was sent to the graveyard it brought out Dark Sanctuary. It only makes sense that doing the opposite would get rid of it."

"Dark Necrofear, attack!" Yugi commanded. The attack dropped Bakura's life points again. Only 1350 left.

"Way to go, Yugi!" Téa cheered.

"One more time and he's done!" I added.

"That won't happen again, Yugi. Because my next monster is Jowgan the Spiritualist!" Bakura told him. That evil grin had come back to his face again. "I'll use Jowgan's special ability by discarding one card from my hand so he can destroy all specially summoned monsters on the field. You know what that means? The return of Dark Sanctuary!"

"Not again," Téa complained as the strange mist reappeared.

Bakura sacrificed Jowgan, but, with only one turn left before Destiny Board spelled out its message, Yugi had to act fast. He drew a card and stared at it with his eyes wide.

"If Yugi doesn't draw a monster with attack power greater than Bakura's life points, he's done for," I said, my voice full of worry. "And if Bakura's face down card is another Dark Spirit of the Silent, he'll lose anyway."

"The Pharaoh has drawn the card he needs to win," the evil voice of Marik told us. "But let's see if he has the courage to use it!" We looked to Yugi for the answer. He didn't look away from the card and his expression didn't change.

"I'll make this choice painfully simple, Yugi," Kaiba spoke up. "Play that card or you lose."

"What? Why you-" Joey started. I grabbed his shoulder and shook my head when he looked at me.

"Although I don't like to admit it, Kaiba's right," I told him and the rest of my friends. "If that card is as powerful as they say, it's his only hope. On Bakura's next turn, Destiny Board will spell out FINAL and he will automatically win."

The look on Yugi's face changed suddenly to determination and I knew he had made up his mind. "I sacrifice Gamma the Magnet Warrior, Big Shield Gardna, and Dark Magician Girl to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon!" he exclaimed.

Yugi's monsters disappeared and dark storm clouds covered the sky. The clouds started to swirl around a central eye and out from it came a huge serpent like dragon that slowly wrapped itself around the entire blimp. I sensed an enormous power surging from the monster, so much that it overwhelmed my mind and heart. I would have collapsed, had Téa not caught me. She helped me over to the wall at the back of the booth, where I sat with Téa kneeling next to me.

"What is that thing?" Tristan said in awe.

"It's the biggest Duel Monster I've ever seen, that's what it is," Joey proclaimed.

"That is an Egyptian god monster," I corrected him weakly.

"Your Egyptian god card is no match for the spirit of Dark Sanctuary," Bakura said calmly. The spirit suddenly appeared when it bounced off of Slifer the Sky Dragon's head. "What? What's going on? Why can't my spirit possess your monster?"

"My Egyptian god is too powerful to be controlled," Yugi replied strongly. "Now Slifer the Sky Dragon, att-!"

Suddenly Bakura fell to his knees. "What am I doing here? Why am I wearing a duel disk?" he asked.

"Ba-Bakura?" Yugi stuttered. I was as confused as everyone else looked.

"Yugi! Help me, I don't feel well at all," he begged. "I should be in the hospital."

Yugi stepped forward to try to help. "Hold it right there," Roland commanded him. "Duelists are forbidden to have direct contact with each other during the duel. If you take another step, you will be disqualified."

"What? Are you nuts? Can't you see Bakura's hurt?" Tristan yelled at him. I tried to tell him to let it go but Slifer's undeniable power was still getting to me. Téa hugged my head to her chest right under her chin. We could only watch as the scene before us unfolded.

After some prodding from Kaiba, Yugi was about to attack again. He hesitated for a moment, but that was enough time for the evil Bakura to get back into control. Yugi noticed this change and immediately made his move.

"Slifer the Sky Dragon, attack!" Yugi commanded. With a tremendous roar, Slifer opened it's huge mouth and let out a solid stream of lightning. The surge of energy was too intense for me and I blacked out.

* * *

When I woke up a short time later, I saw Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Duke on the arena platform kneeling over the body of Bakura. Yugi's Egyptian god monster was gone, so I figured the duel was over. Téa helped me up, but my head was spinning and I practically fell on top of her.

"Are they okay?" I asked. I leaned on Téa. Trying to take in the backwash of Slifer's power had weakened me more than I thought.

"Well, Yugi appears to be fine," Mai answered. "But that Bakura kid took that monster's attack head on. There's no telling if he's alright or not. Not right now, anyway."

Joey and Tristan had thrown Bakura's arms over their shoulders and were carrying him off to the nearest elevator. The same happened with me, except that Téa had me, and Mai and Serenity followed closely behind us. I began to regain my strength little by little. By the time we caught up with the others I was able to walk on my own feet. I guess Téa felt she still had to help me because she was still beside me, ready to catch me if I fell again.

"Hey, are you alright?" Yugi asked when we caught up.

I nodded. "I'm fine. I think because I have a Millennium Item as well, I could feel Slifer's power. I wasn't ready for anything that strong. It just overwhelmed my entire body. How is he?" I indicated to Bakura. Joey and Tristan had brought him to his room and laid him on his bed.

"I can't tell," Yugi responded. "Of course, I'm no doctor. He needs to get back to a hospital, though."

"Let's go talk Mr. Sunshine into landing this tub, then," Joey spoke up.

We tracked down Kaiba and begged him to land his aircraft. His response was anything but good. "No way," he replied. "This tournament will not be interrupted for any reason."

"Please, Kaiba?" Serenity pleaded with a sad tone and expression. It made me want to just hug her, but I refrained from doing so because both Joey and Téa would have torn my head off.

"C'mon, how can you say 'no' to this face?" Tristan added.

"Easy," Kaiba continued. "If your friend entered my tournament against his health, that's his problem, not mine."

"How can you be so cruel, Kaiba?" Téa said with a glare.

He stared at her for a few seconds, with a softer facial expression, before standing up and walking to the intercom on his wall. "Fine. Mokuba, send a medical team to Bakura's room before Yugi's friend starts some stupid speech," he said. Then he turned back to us. "But we're still not landing. Now if you don't mind, I have a duel to prepare for."

We filed out of Kaiba's room and stood in the hallway. Yugi had slipped out before our conversation with Kaiba and no one knew where he went, except me. I knew he had gone back to his room. I wondered why he didn't want to wait to hear his response. We eventually made our way back to Bakura's room. He still hadn't woken up. Then I noticed something strange.

"Hey guys? Where's the Millennium Ring?" I asked.

"It must have fallen off during the duel," Téa suggested from the chair she was sitting in.

"Yeah, Duke and I will go look for it," Tristan volunteered. He took Duke out of the room in a headlock, despite his protests. Then Joey left with Serenity to go back to his room and Mai stepped out, heading back to hers. Only Téa and I were left in the room with Bakura.

"I have some questions I want to ask Yugi," I told her after awhile. "You going to be okay by yourself?" She nodded and I bent over and gave her a good-bye kiss, then walked out the door.

On my way out, I sensed something from the room I was just in. When I looked back, I just saw Bakura on the bed and Téa in the chair, same as when I last looked. I continued on my way and knocked on Yugi's door upon arrival. The door slid open to reveal Yugi in the doorway.

"Hey, Brian. What brings you here?" Yugi greeted me. I looked past him quickly, and saw that he had all his cards laid out on the table.

"Is this a bad time?" I asked. "I just wanted to ask you some stuff. I can come back later if you want."

"No, that's fine, come on in," he replied. He stepped aside and let me in. His room seemed nicer than mine for some reason. I walked over and looked at the cards he had placed on the table. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Yeah…I was just wondering about some things in your duel," I explained. "Who exactly were you dueling against? Don't tell me it was a friend of yours, because I could sense that he wasn't."

"It was the spirit of the Millennium Ring," Yugi replied. "Even I was surprised that he was still here. During Duelist Kingdom, he challenged me to a shadow game that endangered my soul and those of Tristan, Joey, and Téa. He trapped everyone but Yami into our favorite cards. Yami was able to defeat him without losing us and he banished the spirit to the Shadow Realm."

I picked up Yugi's Egyptian god card and looked it over. I could feel traces of the dragon's power emanating from the card itself. "Yugi, how come when you played this you didn't collapse from the power of it?" I asked curiously. I handed the card back to its owner. "I passed out and had my strength drained and I was on the sidelines."

"I don't know exactly," he started. "Maybe it was because I had faced it once before, or maybe because I have more experience with dark energy."

"Or maybe because it's because you are destined to control it," a mysterious voice said. We turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw a guy dressed in a robe. From his neck hung a golden Ankh, the bottom of which was shaped into what appeared to be a skeleton key.

"Hey, I know you. You're Shadi!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Shadi? Wait, the keeper of the Millennium Items?" I asked myself. "What is he doing here?"

"Greetings, my king," Shadi said as he bowed his head. "I must apologize for being blunt, but I came merely to pass on my message to the Pharaoh. If you will excuse us."

"No. I believe that what you have to say is appropriate for his ears," I could tell it was Yami talking this time. "He is, after all, a holder of a Millennium Item. Also, the spirit that used to be in the item claimed to be my guardian."

"We shall see," Shadi replied. He then held up his item and pointed the key part at my face. "My Millennium Key will show me if what you claim is true." I felt something probe my mind quickly. It was only a second before he lowered his key back to where it hung. "I see. You can be trusted with this information."

"Okay…so what is it?" I questioned him.

"Everything that you need to fulfill your destiny is on this craft," Shadi told us vaguely. "The Egyptian god cards, the Millennium Puzzle, and the secret of the tomb keepers. These three things are required to claim the destiny of the Pharaoh. You must not let them fall into the wrong hands. Pegasus tried to control the Egyptian gods, but even he knew that not just anyone could control them."

We looked over at Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had been returned to its place on the table. "How will I know-?" Yugi started. The two of us looked around for Shadi, but he had vanished.

"People are doing that a lot lately," I stated.

"Yes…but what did he mean by 'the secret of the tomb keepers'?" Yugi wondered.

"I'm not sure, but I'll help you find out. No matter what it takes," I assured him. That's when Joey and the others barged in.

"I don't even wanna know what was going on in here," Tristan snickered. His joke didn't last long because Téa kicked him in the shin.

"Sorry, that information is classified," I said with a grin. "Millennium Item business."

"Well, whatever. We're gonna be late for the next duel selection…again," Joey informed us.

Yugi and I laughed and followed them out the door. Once again, I was the one in the rear of the group. When I exited the room, I stopped and gazed thoughtfully back into it. "There you go spacing out again," Téa's joke interrupted my thoughts. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I said to her with a smile. "It's just…Yugi's room is so much better than mine."


	9. Loss

This chapter took a little longer than I thought. Sorry for the wait. I hit an issue with card names and I did research like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't find all the right names so I had to leave out a few of Marik's cards. I also left out Makyura's ability to let the user activate a trap card from his hand because I couldn't remember which cards he used or even the effects of those cards. I simply had nothing to go on. The name of this chapter is 'Loss' for some reason. We couldn't think of a more fitting title for the situation. Please tell me what you think.

Chapter 9: Loss

We heard the sound of the balls bouncing in the machine as we entered the selection room. Kaiba, Mai, and Marik were waiting impatiently for our arrival. I noticed that Mai looked more annoyed than the rest and she refused to look at us. "I wonder what's up with her?" I asked myself.

"From you behavior here, I wonder how you remember to breath," Kaiba said rudely.

"Hey, I don't wanna hear it, Mr. I-endanger-people's-lives-and-don't-give-a-da-," Joey started. His retort was interrupted by Roland's announcement of the next duel.

"Duelist one of match three is, number 3, Mai Valentine!" he called out.

"Good luck, Mai," Téa told her.

"Save it. I don't need help from you or any certain jerks in your group," Mai replied. She glared at Joey before walking to the elevator.

"Duelist two of match three is, number 6, Marik Ishtar!" Roland made his second announcement. "Duelists report to the playing field at once."

Marik and Mai made their way into the elevator that went up to the arena and the rest of us filed into the one to the spectators section. "What was Mai's problem back there?" I asked.

"It's Joey's fault…again," Téa replied.

"What did I do?" Joey asked angrily.

"You know right well what you did! You're so insensitive," Téa scolded. I saw that this wasn't going to be resolved easily, so I dropped the topic. We took up our spots again when the lift reached the top and prepared for the match to begin.

"I hope Mai knows what she's doing," Yugi said in a worried voice. "And I hope Marik doesn't pull any of his dirty tricks."

"C'mon Mai, clean his clock!" Joey cheered when the duelists took up their positions.

"I told you to stay out of this. I can handle myself," she said without even a glance. "Now I'll make my first move. I summon Dunames Dark Witch and end my turn."

"I summon Revival Jam in defense mode," Marik said making his move. "And I'll activate Jam Breeding Machine and set this card face down. And my Breeding Machine will create a Slime Token. The first of many."

"I know this strategy," Yugi said out loud. "Jam Breeding Machine creates a monster each turn, and he'll use its effect to get enough monsters to sacrifice to summon his Winged Dragon of Ra. We have to warn Mai!"

"Look, Yugi, I appreciate you trying to help me and all, really, but stay out of this," Mai told him before he could tell her about Marik's plan.

"But, Mai-" Yugi started.

"Yug, just let it go. Once she's made up her mind, that's it. You can't change it," Joey interrupted. "We just have to trust she knows what she's doing."

"Okay, Dunames Dark Witch, attack that Slime Token!" Mai ordered.

"Not so fast, my dear, I activate my trap card, Jam Defender!" Marik countered. "This allows me to use Revival Jam as a shield to block your attacks!"

"So what? I still take out one of your monsters," Mai replied calmly. The attack was redirected to the other monster, which exploded into tiny droplets. "Ha! So much for your monster. Hey, what's going on?" The droplets of Revival Jam were reforming back into the original monster.

"Revival Jam cannot be destroyed by attacks," Marik explained. "When it is destroyed, it always reforms into the original creature!"

"Well, I'll play Harpie's Feather Duster to clear the field of your magic and trap cards," Mai continued. "And I'll set this card face down, then end my turn."

"I sacrifice my monsters and summon The Masked Beast Des Guardia!" Marik proclaimed. "Now, my beast, attack!"

Mai laughed. "You walked right into my trap, Amazon Archers!" she exclaimed. "It cuts your monster's attack in half, dropping it to 1650! Now destroy it, Dark Witch!" Marik's monster fell along with 150 of his life points. But after the attack Dunames Dark Witch switched sides of the field.

"When The Masked Beast Des Guardia is destroyed, I gain control of the monster that destroyed it," Marik explained. "Before we continue, I want to make this a little more interesting. I'm going to take this duel to the Shadow Realm!"

"Oh no…" I said under my breath. "Yugi, this is getting out of hand we have to stop him!"

"Marik! Don't do it," Yugi yelled at him.

"Stay out of this, Pharaoh," Marik said as a familiar black mist appeared and slowly surrounded the entire upper level of the aircraft. "Now you will see my true power!"

"We fly into a fog and you claim it's your power?" Mai retorted. "You're more pathetic than I thought. It's my turn now and I summon The Unfriendly Amazon! Huh? Why is she glowing?"

Her monster appeared, but there was something strange about it. I knew that the monster was just a hologram but I sensed a spirit in it, as if it were alive. It felt familiar, too. "Yugi, something strange is going on here."

"I'll explain why you are so confused," Marik spoke up. "Each monster we play has the essence of someone we hold in our minds. When the monster is destroyed, all memory of that person will be destroyed with it. When this duel is over you will be an empty shell in a world of strangers!"

"You're nuts, you know that?" Mai replied calmly. "Unfriendly Amazon, attack!"

"Congratulations, you managed to do some damage to my life points," Marik laughed. "But the monster you destroyed was originally _your_sand now you will lose a part of your memory!"

"He can't really do that, can he?" Serenity questioned.

"I don't know…" I replied quietly.

"Now let's see who you will forget," Marik continued. A ghostly image of Téa appeared in front of Mai. "Ah, so little Téa, eh? Say goodbye while you can!" The image shattered shortly after that.

"Are you okay Mai?" Téa called out.

Mai sent a blank look in her direction. "Who said that?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"Marik, stop this!" Yugi yelled at him menacingly. "Your fight is with me! Leave everyone else out of it!"

"I'll deal with you when the time comes, Pharaoh, but for now, I'll play with your friend," Marik cackled back. "I call forth Makyura the Destructor!"

"That's not going to save you. Unfriendly Amazon attack!" Mai made her next move without hesitation. "Now you'll lose one of your memories." Someone I didn't recognize appeared before Marik and shattered, just like what happened to Mai last time.

"Why thank you," Marik seemed pleased by this. "I wish I could forget every single one of them at once, but the rules are only one at a time. Oh well."

"Why is he so happy?" Téa wondered.

"He doesn't care about anyone but himself," I explained. "That gives him an advantage. He has nothing to lose."

"For my turn I play Rope of Life," Marik stated his next move. "With this magic card, I can bring back one monster from my graveyard that I lost last turn and it comes back with 800 additional attack points. Now attack Makyura!"

Mai's monster was wiped out and we looked on in horror as an image of Joey appeared, as the next memory to be taken from her. "No…not him…not…Joey!" Mai stuttered in fear as she dropped to her knees. The image in front of her shattered. "I can barely remember him…"

"C'mon, Mai, you can't forget _me_!" Joey cried out on the verge of tears. "I need…hang in there! Please!"

"I need to help her," Yugi said. I felt a surge of power come from him and head toward Mai. I watched Mai stand back up with a new determination.

"Stay out of _my_ Shadow Game, Pharaoh!" Marik said to him furiously.

"I set this card face down and summon Amazoness Fighter, in attack mode!" Mai stated bravely. "And that's all for me."

"You fool! You might as well give up now with that weak defense," Marik said with an evil grin. "Makyura attack!" Marik's monster lunged at Mai's, but she just smiled.

"I play Amazoness Spellcaster!" she said. "It takes the attack of one of my monsters and switches it with one of yours. Amazoness Fighter, destroy Makyura!" Marik's monster was destroyed along with another one of his servants. Mai smiled triumphantly and Marik wore an evil grin.

"I don't know what you did, Yugi, but it seemed to have worked," I commented.

"She just needed a little push," he replied.

"I set another card face down and attack your life points with my Fighter," Mai's next turn was quick and to the point.

Marik drew his next card and cackled. "Behold the power of Holding Arms!" The small monster appeared and snagged Mai's Amazoness Fighter with its cuff like body. "Holding Arms prevents one of your monsters from attacking. And I'll destroy your monster with this card. Go, Nightmare Wheel!" The warrior was strapped to what appeared to be an old medieval torture device that I recognized from one of my classes.

"I have another surprise, Marik," Mai said as she activated another face down card. "It's called Dramatic Rescue and it allows me to swap one of my monsters on the field with one in my hand. Amazoness Fighter, return to me and come forth Amazoness Chainmaster!"

"You may have saved yourself this time but your luck won't last for long," Marik said ominously. "I now summon, Holding Legs. When they are both on the field, Holding Arms and Holding Legs are immune from card effects."

"Now I'll use my all powerful Grave Arm to destroy one monster on the field," Mai stated.

"That won't do any good. Both of my monsters are immune from card effects!" Marik said.

"Who said I was using it on your monsters?" she asked with a grin. "I'm destroying my Amazoness Chainmaster!" We gasped in shock as she declared her move. "And when she's sent to the graveyard, I can take a card from your deck. And I choose The Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"Way to go, Mai!" Joey cheered.

"That's only half the battle," I said, cutting the celebration short. "She may have the card but she needs three monsters to summon it. Right now she has none."

"You may have my Egyptian god card, but there's no way you will be able to control its unstoppable power!" Marik laughed.

"Your threats don't scare me anymore, Marik. For now, I'll summon Cyber Harpie and end my turn," Mai said. Marik drew but scowled when he didn't draw something he could use. Mai's next turn came and she put on a wide grin, indicating that she drew something good. "For my move I play Elegant Egotist! It turns my one Harpie into three. Say hello to the Harpie Lady Sisters. Now I'll sacrifice them to summon your Egyptian god card, The Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"Yeah! This is what we've been waiting for!" Joey exclaimed wildly. "Mai's gonna win and get her memories back!"

We watched in suspense as the monster appeared on the field. But instead of the Egyptian god, all that appeared was a giant gold sphere. "What the heck is that?" Mai questioned.

"The Winged Dragon of Ra is sealed within that orb," Marik explained. "In order to use its power you need to decipher and chant the ancient text that appears on the card. Only someone with knowledge of the ancient scriptures can read it. Kaiba and the Pharaoh can read it, but can you?"

"Oh, no. How's Mai supposed to read something she's never seen before?" Téa begged.

"She's not. Marik must have had this planned from the beginning," I replied grimly.

"Well? Are you going to read the chant or shall I?" Marik asked impatiently. When Mai didn't respond, he continued with the rhyme. "Lend me your strength. Lend me your power. Emerge in this Shadow Game by your name. Winged Dragon of Ra!"

The orb began to open, bright light shone from the openings, and the form of the monster itself began to take form. I could sense Téa's fear as she clutched my hand tighter and tighter. The energy that erupted from The Winged Dragon of Ra was greater than that of Slifer, but I stood fast against it. Marik laughed maniacally as he prepared to attack.

"Holding Arms and Holding Legs capture her!" he commanded. The two monsters rushed forward and chained Mai's arms and legs to a stone wall that had appeared behind her. "Now that you can't escape you will be destroyed by The Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"No!" Joey screamed as he charged forward and leaped up on the arena.

"Joey! What are you doing?" Serenity called after him.

"I have to get her outta there!" he yelled back.

I looked at Yugi and, seemingly able to read my thoughts, he looked back, then nodded. I released Téa's hand and Yugi and I vaulted onto the arena to help our friends.

"Mai? Can you hear me?" Joey asked, trying to get her to come back to her memories. "It's me Joey."

"That voice…it's so familiar…" she replied weakly.

"Yeah, concentrate on my voice," he told her. Joey stared into Mai's eyes for a moment and tried a different course of action. "Focus on this, Mai." He held her head between his hands and pressed his lips against hers in a hard kiss.

Mai blinked a couple times after he pulled back. "J-Joey? Joey! I remember you now!"

"Great! Now, let's get you outta here," Joey said happily as he tugged at the chains that held her. "Man, these things are too tight. I can't get them off, I'm sorry, Mai."

"Joey, get out of here you fool. Don't die on my account," she told him softly, but still loud enough for me to hear.

"Isn't this cute, but I'll destroy all of you!" Marik shouted. "Winged Dragon of Ra, attack!"

"Your attack cannot penetrate _me_, Marik," Yugi said bravely as he stepped forward to use his body as a shield. I also stepped forward, next to Yugi, hoping that my power wouldn't fail me now.

"Brian! NO!" Téa shrieked. Duke and Tristan both had to hold her back from coming up after me. I mentally thanked them for keeping her out of danger.

The Dragon launched its devastating attack against us. Yugi and I braced ourselves against the fire ball that came at us, but it was too hard for the two of us to hold off and I soon felt our defense slipping. The blast tried to tear my mind and body apart. Thoughts of Téa and the friends I was protecting went through my mind and something just clicked. Everything in my head and heart fell into place and I found the power to ward of the vicious strike. I pressed my hands forward and threw my full power into a mystical shield. After a few more seconds, the attack dissipated and Yugi and I fell to our hands and knees, our energy about gone.

Mai's life points dropped to zero and Roland declared Marik the winner. Marik's monsters vanished along with the backdrop of the Shadow Realm. I turned around just in time to see Mai's body fall weakly into Joey's embrace. He carefully sat her down on the ground as Marik approached.

"I believe you still have my card," he told her, grinning evilly. "I want it back."

"You're gonna pay for this Marik," Joey said, standing up to face him. Marik held up the Millennium Rod and Joey froze in place. "Hey! What did you do to me?"

"Silence!" he threatened. He reached down and took the Egyptian god card back. "Now for the deal from our Shadow Game." He held up the rod again and pointed it at Mai. Her face went blank and her body fell limp.

"Marik…" Yugi growled.

"Don't worry, Pharaoh, you'll see your friend again soon enough," he responded. He then left the arena laughing maniacally.

Joey, now released from Marik's hold, held Mai's head to his chest with tears running down his face. Téa soon wrapped her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. Duke, Tristan, and Serenity had also ascended the platform to help us out. After a few minutes, the seven of us went back down the lift. Joey carried Mai back to her room and placed her on her bed. A few tear drops fell onto her pillow with a soft pat.

"Joey…" Serenity whispered to comfort her brother. She was standing next to him, but the rest of us were standing back along the wall by the door. Duke and Tristan wore concerned expressions and Yugi seemed to be furious. Téa hung on my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. I could feel the fear and pain in her heart from nearly losing me again.

"C'mon, man, let's go," Tristan tried to pull Joey away. "There's nothing we can do here."

"No…I'm staying here," he replied sadly.

"Listen you guys," Serenity spoke up. "In this short time, you all have taught me a lot about helping others and friendship. You all helped me when I needed it. I owe a lot to you, so let me help _you_ out now. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Mai, you guys go watch the next match."

Her speech brought a slight smile to everyone's faces. "You sure about this, Seren?" Joey asked her. She smiled and nodded in response. "Thanks, sis."

Everyone except Serenity filed out of the room and headed down the hall back toward the upper level. Téa stopped me by pulling on my arm. She didn't say anything until the others were out of sight. "What were you thinking? I almost lost you out there…again."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," I apologized in as sweet a voice I could muster. "I just felt that I had to help. I think it helped me though."

"What do you mean?" she asked. I saw confusion in her eyes. I smiled at her. Even though she was upset about my actions, I could see that she loved me more and more.

"When I was out there, my mind was flooded with thoughts, most of which were of you," I explained. "Then all of a sudden, everything just fit in. I feel…complete."

"Brian, you mean you've found yourself?" she asked happily. My smiled widened and I nodded. She threw her arms around me in a tight, happy hug. "I'm so happy for you! Now, about us…"

"Us…" I said with a pause. "I love you. Do I need to say anything else?" She responded with a no and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Well, let's get going…before Tristan thinks we're making out somewhere." She giggled and walked with me to meet up with everyone else, who, by now, were already on the upper level.

The two of us arrived in the spectators area, smiling contently, even under the current circumstances. Tristan began to grin but said nothing when Téa and I looked at him. I thought that, for once, he had run out of jokes. Kaiba was standing on his side of the playing field with his arms crossed. His face was locked in a scowl. Across from him stood…no one. His opponent hadn't reported yet.

"The eighth duelist is late," Kaiba declared to Roland. "Declare me the winner by forfeit so we can continue the tournament."

"Yes, of course," Roland replied. "The winner, by forfeit, is Seto-"

"Stop! I have arrived."


	10. A Duel with Destiny

I apologize for these past couple chapters being really boring. I tried to cut this one as short as possible so I can move on with the story. To summarize: Chapter 8 is Yugi vs. Bakura; Chapter 9 is Marik vs. Mai; Chapter 10 is Kaiba vs. Ishizu. They have to be here for plot and stuff. I'm going to go into Noah's virtual world, but I'm going to cut that short as well. It will only last a couple chapters. Then I'll jump back to battle city for the final battles. If you watched the episodes from here on out, they won't help much. I'll be taking chunks out, changing the story line a bit, and wrapping up. My guess is another six or seven chapters and I'll be done.

Chapter 10: A Duel with Destiny

"Stop! I have arrived!" a female voice called out from the now opening elevator. I sensed a familiar, yet strange, presence from the duelist. I realized I had noticed it earlier but paid no attention to it. The woman walked out onto the arena. She was dressed in familiar looking Egyptian attire.

"I can't be…" I murmured.

"Duelist state your name," Roland demanded.

She removed a veil that covered her lower face before speaking. "I am Ishizu Ishtar," she stated boldly. "And I have foreseen your failure, Kaiba." She looked thoughtfully at me then Yugi, but said nothing to us.

"That's just great," Joey commented in frustration. "One Ishtar is bad enough, but two?"

"I don't think we have anything to fear from this one, though," I told him.

"What are you talking about?" Kaiba demanded from Ishizu. "I'm going to destroy you with the very card you gave me, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

"You are wrong Kaiba. If you play that card, it will be _your_ downfall," she informed him calmly.

"Let's just duel and see how wrong you are," Kaiba snarled. Both of their duel disks activated simultaneously and the match began. "I summon Vorse Raider, in attack mode, and set two cards face down."

"I summon Keldo in attack position and end my turn," Ishizu said without hesitation.

"You think you can beat me with lame moves like that?" Kaiba threatened. "Vorse Raider, attack!" Keldo was destroyed, but Ishizu didn't even flinch from the move.

"You attacked just as my Millennium Necklace showed me," she stated. "I summon Mudora and equip it with this magic card that raises its attack to 2100. And now I will attack Vorse Raider."

"I activate my face down card, Shrink!" Kaiba countered. "It cuts the attack of one monster on the field by 1500. And I'll choose Vorse Raider. Then I'll activate my Crush Card. By sacrificing Vorse Raider, I destroy Mudora and any other monster that has an attack of 1500 or more!"

"A very good move, Kaiba," Ishizu commented as she discarded almost half of her deck. "But as my Millennium Necklace has shown me, I do not need strong monsters to beat you."

"Is she kidding? There's no way she can win without a strong monster, especially if Kaiba summons his Egyptian god," I noted to the others.

"Again with this Millennium Item nonsense?" Kaiba asked angrily. "When will you fools realize that this magic doesn't exist? All of you are a bunch of idiots!" He then drew a card to begin his turn.

"My necklace tells me you drew Virus Cannon," she told him. Kaiba's eyes went wide and he just stared at her. "I take your silence as a yes. Go ahead and play your trap card."

"Fine! I play Virus Cannon!" Kaiba yelled. "It forces you to discard ten of your magic cards from your deck."

"Very well, ten cards it is," she replied calmly.

"Wow, talk about playing with half a deck…" Joey thought out loud.

"Now for my turn," Ishizu continued. "I play Swords of Revealing Light. Now you can't attack for three turns."

"Stalling for time are you?" Kaiba laughed. "It doesn't matter if I gave you twenty turns, you still couldn't beat me."

"Three turns will be enough, thank you," Ishizu replied almost jokingly. "But for now I will set a card face down and end my turn."

After drawing his next card, Kaiba started laughing. "I just drew the card that will be your downfall! Obelisk the Tormentor! Lucky for you, I need three monsters to summon it. So I'll summon Dark Goblin, in defense mode. And end my turn."

No comment or change in expression came from Ishizu. She drew a card and nodded at it before placing it in her hand. "I summon a monster in defense mode, place another card face down, and end my turn."

"Sounds like your plan of stalling isn't working out too well," Kaiba commented as he drew. He was about to pass his turn when Ishizu spoke up again.

"I activate my trap card, Exchange of the Spirit!" she declared. "I forces us to switch the cards in our decks with those in our graveyard."

Kaiba's face turned to a look of pure horror. He only had a few cards in his graveyard and Ishizu had over half of her deck in hers. This put Kaiba at a serious disadvantage. If it got to the point where he couldn't draw any cards he would lose automatically.

"With my next turn I summon another monster in defense position," Ishizu said as she made her move.

Kaiba drew, but ended his turn immediately without doing anything. Ishizu's Swords of Revealing Light wore off after that. "Looks like your ploy didn't work. After three turns you haven't summoned a single monster that can beat me."

"Like I said, I don't need monster's to beat you," Ishizu replied calmly. "I summon another monster in defense position."

"Ha! You just played into my hand!" Kaiba said excitedly.

"What's Kaiba talking about?" Tristan asked. "He's about to lose and he still thinks he's going to win."

"He must have a way to summon his Egyptian god card, Obelisk the Tormentor," Yugi told us in suspense.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"I activate Soul Exchange!" Kaiba answered my question with his move. "It allows me to use your monsters for a tribute summon! I'll take all three of them to summon Obelisk the Tormentor!" The giant monster rose out of what seemed to be nothing and towered over the entire arena. The power that came from it seemed to be dark and empty, but endless at the same time. "Obelisk the Tormentor…" Kaiba's command trailed off.

"Why is he hesitating?" I wondered. Suddenly I felt several spiritual energy sources react. Two of them, I noticed, were my bracelet and Yugi's puzzle.

"What's going on?" Kaiba shouted. "Why am I being shown these things?" The Millennium Items seemed to be responding to Kaiba, the very person that didn't believe in their power. For the first time during the duel, Ishizu looked surprised. Kaiba regained his composure to make a very surprising move. "I sacrifice Dark Goblin and Obelisk the Tormentor to summon my Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"What in the world is he doing?" Duke asked in amazement. "His god card is much stronger than his dragon."

"How can this be? This is not what I saw!" Ishizu exclaimed in fear as she took a step back.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack!" Kaiba ordered his monster. The dragon obeyed its master and wiped out the rest of Ishizu's life points.

"And the winner is Seto Kaiba!" Roland announced.

"As if there was any doubt," Kaiba snorted as he turned to leave.

I shook my head. "What just happened?" I thought. I stared at my bracelet in wonderment. "What exactly did Kaiba see? It must have been something that was incredible enough to convince Kaiba not to attack with his Egyptian god."

"Brian, did you feel that as well?" Yugi's question broke into my thoughts. I looked at him and nodded. "I felt the energy of several Millennium Items, possibly all that are here. I think there's something about Kaiba that none of us knows. Maybe something that even he doesn't know."

"Hey, you guys coming?" Téa asked us. Joey, Tristan, and Duke had already headed down and were gone. The three of us stepped into the elevator when it got back up to our level and went down looking for them. "So, was that the same woman we met at the museum?"

"Yeah, it was," I told her. "What I want to know is what exactly happened up there. No matter how many times I look at the duel in my head, Obelisk would have won. Ishizu had no monsters or any other cards on the field when Kaiba's god card was going to attack. It just doesn't add up."

"Well, don't worry about it too much," Téa comforted me. "At least it wasn't you out there."

"Not yet," I replied. "No matter who I go up against in the next round, I'll have to face one of the god cards." Just then the doors opened and we stepped out into the hallway. Téa grabbed my hand and stepped up to my right and Yugi came up on my other side.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Yugi laughed. We walked into the selection room again, hoping to see who was going to duel first in the next round. Roland and Mokuba were standing on the platform next to the lottery machine.

"Okay, Roland, everyone's here," Mokuba told him.

"Attention, duelists," Roland began. "The official four remaining duelists are as follows: Brian Matthews, Yugi Moto, Marik Ishtar, and Seto Kaiba. The tournament will continue when we reach our final destination tomorrow morning. Until then, you are free to use the facilities that are on board."

"I'm gonna go check on Mai," Joey stated as he left. "Catch you guys in the morning."

"Well, better get some sleep while we can," Tristan told us. Then a grin came to his face. "Aren't you sharing our room, Téa?"

Téa rolled her eyes. "There's no way I'm spending the night with you two," she said defiantly. "Especially not with Tristan. Not after what happened at Yugi's sleep over on his last birthday."

"It's okay, Téa," I assured her. "You can stay with me."

"I'll bet," Tristan snickered as he and Duke left the room.

Everyone else had left while we were talking so, once again, it was just me, Yugi, and Téa. Or so we thought. We turned to leave when a voice quietly called out to us. "Lord Yami, may I speak with you?"

"Ishizu?" Téa questioned when she saw the woman.

"I am glad to see you two are helping the Pharaoh like you promised," she said with a slight smile. "Formalities aside, I have a favor to ask you, Yami."

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's my brother, Marik," she explained. "He wasn't always like this. Ever since he took the tomb keeper's test, he has been inhabited by an evil presence. It has just recently became more powerful and taken over my brother completely. I must ask you to save him."

"Save him? He nearly drowned Yugi and Joey!" I exclaimed. "Then he endangered my girlfriend and trapped Mai's mind in the Shadow Realm! And if that doesn't take the cake, he's a threat to the entire world!"

"That's right! We could have been killed!" Téa piped in.

"I assure you that it was evil within his body that did those terrible things," Ishizu commented. "I believe that it has also sent my brother's real soul was sent to the Shadow Realm as well. Please, I beg you, help him."

"I don't know…" I thought out loud. "Your call, Yugi. What do you think?"

"I think we should at least try," Yugi answered after a thinking for a few moments. "But no matter what happens, his evil must be stopped!"

"Thank you very much, my king," Ishizu responded. "I hope this helps you in your struggle. My Millennium Necklace. It no longer shows me the future, but perhaps it will be of better use to you."

"Thank you, Ishizu," Yugi thanked her as he took the item from her. "I'm sure it will aid us in our fight."

"Attention. Lights out in two minutes," a voice called out through the loud speaker.

"Better get to our rooms," Yugi suggested. He turned and walked to his room after saying good-night. I was going to do the same when I noticed Téa wasn't following me. I turned back around and listened to her talk to Ishizu.

"Ishizu, wait," Téa pleaded. The other woman looked to Téa questioningly. "Please, I have to know, when we defeat the evil in Marik, will the world be safe again? Or is there another evil out there somewhere?"

"I do not know," Ishizu responded. "Yugi is the one that has the power to answer that now. Good night Téa, Brian."

"Yeah…" Téa said quietly. The two of us silently walked back to my room to get some sleep. We passed Mai's room on the way and saw Joey sitting in a chair by her side. We waved to Serenity, who was the only one in there that noticed us walk by. "Poor Joey. I hope this will be over soon."

"Me, too," I replied. I quickly opened the door to my room upon arrival and we stepped in. Téa sat on the bed and removed her shoes and socks then wiggled her toes. I stepped up to the window and looked out onto the city below. I decided to try to cheer Téa up a bit by asking what happened at Yugi's sleep over, but when I turned to her, she was curled up on the bed, fast asleep. I crept over and gently pulled the sheets up over her shoulder before bending down and kissing her lightly on the head.

"Sleep tight," I whispered. I sat down in a chair where I found myself drifting off to sleep.


	11. Virtual World, Part 1

Hopefully this chapter won't be as worthless as the last three. Téa fans out there will be happy to know that she gets to duel in this one. I only wish she dueled more in the show so I could give her more options during the match. Anyway, she becomes a hero when she saves a certain dueling prodigy from losing his body to the Big Five. Who is it? You'll have to read to find out.

Chapter 11: Virtual World, part 1

I was awakened from my sleep by the feeling of something warm and soft being pressed against my lips. When I stirred, the feeling slowly left and I heard a quiet snap. I opened my eyes to see Téa's face pulling back from mine. Her eyes were closed and her lips were puckered. "Well, good morning to you, too," I said. Her sapphire eyes opened and she smiled sweetly. "Maybe I should let you stay with me more often."

"Let's go. Everyone's probably waiting for us already," she said while tugging me from the chair. I stood and we made our way to the door. Just as it opened, Kaiba came storming down the hall past us. "What's up with him?"

"Must have lost his teddy bear," I joked. Shortly after my comment, Yugi and the others came through. "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"Something's wrong with the blimp," Duke responded. "Some technical glitch or something."

Now worried, I followed my friends to go after Kaiba. We caught up with him on the bridge of the aircraft where he was demanding to know what was going on. None of the technicians knew what the problem was. One of them suggested that someone was controlling the craft remotely.

"Restart the main computer and get us back on course!" Kaiba ordered.

"We can't sir. We've been completely locked out," someone replied.

"Get out of my way!" Kaiba furiously shoved him out of the way and began to type rapidly on the keyboard. He slammed his fist down on the console when the system wouldn't obey his commands. "Blast it! I want to know who's doing this! NOW!"

"Now, now, Seto. Yelling will get you nowhere," a voice echoed through the speaker system. It sounded like a child.

"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded. "How dare you interrupt my tournament!"

"You will find out soon enough, Seto," the voice answered. The communication line cut out soon after that.

"Where did that communication come from?" Kaiba asked one of the techs. He pointed to an island that was just coming into view.

"Seto, the landing sequence has been started," Mokuba spoke up when we got closer to the island. "Looks like this guy wants us to drop in for a visit."

"Oh, I'll give him a visit he won't forget anytime soon," Kaiba replied as the blimp descended.

The speaker crackled to life again. "When you have landed I want to meet with you and your friends. All of them," the voice said. A large opening appeared on the island and the blimp slowly descended into the hanger where it was securely locked down. We followed Kaiba down the boarding ramp, which had been lowered automatically upon landing. A few of Kaiba's guards began to follow us out, but the doors slammed shut in their faces. "I said I wanted to meet with you and your friends, not your hired help. Now, if you will proceed through the door in front of you, our little meeting will begin."

We cautiously stepped through the door, going from the metal hanger to a lush tropical forest. Téa bent down and smelled one of the flowers. "It smells so beautiful," she commented.

"Don't get used to it," Kaiba told her. "It's not real." I watched as Téa touched the plant, but instead of touching it her hand passed right through it.

"How did you know it was fake, Kaiba?" Yugi asked curiously.

"It's quite simple," Kaiba explained. "I designed the technology myself. What I want to know is how this guy got it."

"Very good, Seto," the same disembodied voice said. "And as for how I obtained it, there are some old friends of yours that will explain. Before they do, however, I would like to propose some new dueling rules to you."

"Are you kidding?" Kaiba retorted. "You drag me away from an important tournament and expect to offer me a business proposition? You're more pathetic than I thought."

"Before you turn it down, why not try it out?" the voice continued. Someone walked out of the edge of the forest. It looked like Kaiba, except he was wearing different clothes. The second Kaiba wore a duel disk on his arm. A monster appeared across from him. The mystery voice began the lengthy explanation while the fake Kaiba took the actions. "Now watch carefully. My new rules demand that one monster in your deck will become your guardian, otherwise known as a deck master. For all intents and purposes let's say you choose Blue Eyes White Dragon. Each deck master will stay out of play until they are called upon by the duelist. In this demonstration Kaiba will call his dragon to the field and fuse it with two others into the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Normally fusion monsters can't attack in the turn they are summoned, but since it was fused by the means of the deck master, it can. In my version, each duelist begins a match with 4000 life points and the monster would finish off the other duelist with one attack. But when the monster attacks, the ability of the other deck master activates, in this case, Deep Sea Warrior's ability is that it destroys a monster that attacks directly. Since the deck master was part of that monster, it is destroyed and Kaiba loses, even though his life points are completely intact. Each deck master has its own abilities, but I'm afraid I can't tell you what they are. You'll have to find out yourselves."

"Whatever, I don't accept your rules. Now, let us out of here so I can finish my tournament," Kaiba said without even thinking it over.

"But don't you want to see who gave Noah your virtual world technology?" a different voice asked.

"Noah? Is that the kid that hijacked the tournament?" I wondered.

"That's right, Brian Matthews," yet another voice answered.

"How does he know your name, Brian? Have you met these people before?" Téa questioned me. I shook my head in a negative response. The jungle that we were in vanished and turned into a pitch-black room. A door opened in front of us, revealing five people standing in a backdrop of bright light.

"I thought I recognized those voices," Kaiba stated. "Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Nezbitt, and Leichter. So this is the rock you've been hiding under."

"And they are…who?" I asked.

"They're the Big Five. They were the board of directors of Kaiba Corp until they tried to get rid of Seto and we fired them," Mokuba explained.

"After you fired us, Kaiba, Master Noah saved us by putting our minds into his virtual world," one of them spoke. "However, we don't have bodies anymore."

"So what's that got to do with us?" Joey asked.

"Our minds need new bodies, that's where you come in," explained a fourth voice.

"We aren't going to give up our bodies without a fight," Tristan threatened.

"That's what we were hoping for," the fifth member said ominously.

"Joey!" I heard a scream from behind me. I looked back to see Serenity drop into a hole that appeared underneath her.

"Serenity!" Duke and Tristan shouted at the same time. They ran to the spot she was standing in only to be swallowed by a second hole. Joey was the next to go.

"Brian! Help!" Téa screamed at me as she dropped. I dove towards her and managed to grab her hand as she fell. I started to pull her up, but the hole opened even more and I fell in too. My left hand instinctively clutched the edge of the top. I hung for a few seconds by one hand with Téa's hand in my other. I looked up to see Yugi reach out to me, but the hole opened further and my grip on solid ground gave way. Together, Téa and I fell into darkness.

We fell for at least a minute until a light appeared below us. We fell into it and landed hard on solid ice. Somehow I ended up under Téa and her slender form landed on top of me. It took her a moment to realize what she landed on, but when she did she quickly got off of me.

"Ice. Why couldn't it have been grass? Or a pile of feathers?" I asked, rubbing my lower back in pain. "Are you okay, sweet heart?"

"Yeah. Lucky for me I had something soft to land on," Téa replied as she helped me to my feet. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No, I'm fine," I assured her. I looked around to see where we were. It looked like Antarctica. "I don't see Yugi or the others. We must be on our own."

"Okay, so what now?" she asked nervously.

"I guess we wander around and see if we can find our friends or a way out," I suggested. She agreed and we began walking across the frozen water. A cold gust of wind blew against us and Téa moved closer to me. She was shivering from the cold so I wrapped my arm around her in an attempt to warm her up.

When we got further away from land the ice under our feet began to crack. I immediately took a step back, pulling Téa with me. All that happened was it cracked even more and faster. Before we could react anymore it shattered, but instead of falling into freezing water, a large pillar of ice carried us up off the ground several feet. Across from us was another pillar of the same height. On top stood a giant penguin wearing a top hat and a dress suit.

"Well, isn't this a pleasure," the penguin said in a familiar voice. "Brian and Téa, are you ready to lose your bodies to me?"

"You're one of the Big Five aren't you?" I questioned him.

"You catch on quick. I'm the second of the Big Five, but you can call me Crump," he said. "Now, prepare to say good-bye to each other. You're about to lose your bodies to me!"

"I won't go down so easily, Crump," I challenged. I reached for my deck on my belt, but he stopped me from doing so.

"Your deck is invalid here. You both must choose a virtual deck from the card database," he explained. A duel disk appeared on Téa's arm and a scrolling list of cards appeared in front of each of us. "Just touch the cards you want and they'll be added to your virtual decks."

I quickly tapped the cards from my deck that saw and the deck appeared in my duel disk. I looked at Téa as she finished her selections.

"The next thing to do is choose a deck master," Crump continued. "I have already taken on the form of my deck master, Nightmare Penguin."

"I choose Dark Magician Girl as my deck master," Téa said boldly. She had chosen a powerful monster so I figured she had an idea of what she was doing. I had never seen Téa duel before, but from the stories I heard, she knew at least the basics. Plus, she had me to back her up.

I smiled slightly and looked through my monsters. I was about to pick Seiyariyu when something caught my eye. It was Buster Blader. In the picture, he was holding his sword in both hands. Suddenly, he rested the sword on his shoulder, crossed his arm across his chest and bowed. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them quickly. The card had returned to its original image. At that moment I knew what card to pick.

"My deck master is Buster Blader!" I said just as bravely as Téa did. Téa, Dark Magician Girl, and I watched the warrior appear with his sword resting on his shoulder, just like I had seen when the card moved. "You don't stand a chance, Crump," I informed him. "I'll make the first move. I summon Masked Dragon in defense mode."

"I summon Petite Angel in defense mode," Téa declared as she made her move after mine.

"Now for my attack," our opponent said. "I activate A Legendary Ocean. This card decreases the level of all water monsters by one and raises their attack and defense by 200. Then I'll summon The Legendary Fisherman in attack mode. My deck master ability increases the attack of all water monsters by 200. Now I'll set two cards face down and play Stop Defense and change Petite Angel to attack mode. Fisherman, attack!"

"No! Masked Dragon, block the attack!" I shouted. My dragon dove in front of the attack and saved Téa's monster as well as her life points. "You're forgetting that there are two opponents. And, as Téa's partner, I can block your attacks with my own monsters if I wish. Since my dragon was destroyed by an attack, I get to summon another dragon to my field. I choose Armed Dragon LV3."

"Fine, but it's not like it will help you. I end my turn here," Crump finished.

"It'll help more than you know," I said as I drew a card. "I sacrifice Armed Dragon LV3, to summon Armed Dragon LV5! It has an attack of 2400, enough to take more than half of your life points."

"What about The Legendary Fisherman?" Téa asked.

"When Umi, or a card that represents it, is on the field, The Legendary Fisherman cannot be attacked," I explained. "There is a flaw to that. Since I can't attack the monster, I get to bypass it and go straight for his life points. Go Armed Dragon!" The monster charged at Crump with a fist raised. I grinned. I was pulling out all the stops because I wasn't about to let anyone take mine or Téa's body.

"Normally I'd be scared by this, but my trap card saves me. Tornado Wall!" Crump exclaimed. "It negates battle damage to my life points, making your attack useless!" My dragon was blasted back to me without damage, but without doing any either.

"Now it's my turn," Téa stated. "I switch Petite Angel back to defense mode and summon Ancient Elf in defense mode as well." She was playing it safe, which was good. She was the defense while I was the offense.

"Your defenses are useless," Crump said. "I summon Penguin Torpedo. It gains 200 attack points from A Legendary Ocean and another 200 from my deck master ability. Now it has an attack of 950!"

"That's not nearly enough to destroy any of our monsters," I claimed.

"Who said I was going to attack your monsters?" Crump continued. "Penguin Torpedo can attack your life points directly! Penguin Torpedo, attack Téa!"

The tiny monster shot forward into the water and jumped out and flew over Téa's defensive monsters and smashed into her. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't prevent the attack because the monster went around our defenses by its own effect. The attack dropped her life points to 3050. Ice began to form around her ankles and worked its way up to her knees. "What's happening? What are you doing to me?" she shouted.

"Oh, perhaps I forgot to mention that when you lose life points your body will slowly become encased in ice," he explained. "When you lose, you will be one giant popsicle!"

"That won't happen. I won't let it," I said. I was determined to protect Téa at all costs. "I play Stamping Destruction to destroy A Legendary Ocean and inflict 500 damage to your life points. And now that your magic card is gone, so is Tornado Wall and The Legendary Fisherman's defense. I summon Blackland Fire Dragon to the field and attack your Fisherman with Armed Dragon and your Penguin Torpedo with my other dragon!" My attack dropped his life points to 2400 and ice crept almost halfway up his body.

"I switch both of my monsters to attack mode and attack your life points directly!" Téa declared on her turn. The attack would have almost wiped him out, but a last minute trap card changed it.

"I activate Mirror Force!" Crump exclaimed. "This will destroy all four of your monsters and protect my life points from annihilation!"

"I'm sorry, Brian. I'm screwing everything up," Téa said to me.

"No, you're doing just fine. I would have made the same mistake," I assured her. "We just need to be more careful in our moves from now on."

"If you two are done whining, I'll take my turn," Crump told us. "I play Ocean of Regeneration. This card allows me to bring back a water monster from my graveyard each turn. For this turn, I'll bring back The Legendary Fisherman and sacrifice him to summon Giant Penguin! It has 2400 attack power with my deck master ability. Then I combine it with Horn of the Unicorn to raise it another 700 points. Now, attack Brian's life points directly!" The brutal attack cut me down to 1100 life points. Ice formed around me, covering my body up to my shoulders. My arms were still free so I was still in the game.

"I summon The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, in defense mode," I said weakly. My arms shook rapidly from the freezing temperature that surrounded my body. I could barely place the card on my duel disk and declare my move because of the cold.

"I set one card face down and summon Maha Vailo in attack position," Téa made her next move confidently. I knew that she had a surprise for Crump, though I knew not what it was.

"Are you trying to lose? My Penguin can wipe you out without effort!" Crump said calmly.

"You think so? Just try it!" Téa challenged.

"I will. Giant Penguin, attack!" Crump commanded.

"Perfect! You walked right into my trap!" Téa exclaimed. "Activate Fairy's Hand Mirror! This allows me to take an equipment magic card and change it to one of my monsters. And now Horn of the Unicorn is equipped to Maha Vailo. Thanks to its special effect, Maha Vailo gains 500 attack points for every magic card equipped to it, in addition to what the magic card does." Maha Vailo, with its attack boosted to 2750 easily deflected the Giant Penguin's attack, bringing our opponent's life points to 2050.

"My magic card brings back Penguin Torpedo and I command it to attack Brian's life points directly," Crump snickered.

I began my turn with only 350 points left. The ice was now up to my neck. My next card was Polymerization and it was useless. Just when I thought my time was up, Téa spoke again. "I activate my deck master's effect to draw three cards from my deck and play any one magic card among them," she stated. She drew her cards and smiled happily. "I activate the Sages Stone magic card! It automatically summons a Dark Magician from any players deck to my side of the field."

I watched an orb of light appear on my deck that floated over to Téa and transformed into my Dark Magician. I suddenly realized what she was doing. I didn't know how she knew what I drew, but I would worry about that later. "I move my deck master to the field," I proclaimed. "Then I activate Polymerization to fuse my Buster Blader and Téa's Dark Magician into Dark Paladin! It gains 500 for each dragon on the field and in any graveyard. With four in my graveyard and one on the field, my monster has an attack of 5400! Dark Paladin, destroy his Penguin Torpedo and wipe out the rest of his life points!"

The monster struck its small target and Crump's life points drained to nothing. After they did, he vanished without a trace. The ice around Téa disappeared and released her. I was held for a few seconds longer, which was understandable. I had lost more life points than her and was encased in more ice. Once it all dissolved, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around myself, shivering violently. Téa was at my side at once, putting her arms around me and pulling me close to her.

"It's okay. I'm here," she whispered to me. Her body felt so warm against mine and I couldn't help snuggle against her.

"Hey! Téa, Brian!" someone called out. We turned and saw Yugi half running and half sliding across the icy ground. He made his way to us, nearly falling down more than once. "I saw the end of the match. That was a great move!"

"It was Téa that pulled it off," I explained. "You never saw the card I drew. How did you know your plan would work?"

"I don't know how I knew, I just did. I had a feeling in my heart and I've never ignored what it has told me before," she said sweetly. Yugi helped the two us to our feet and we began walking aimlessly.

"So what happened to you, Yugi? After we fell through that hole, I mean," I asked.

"After you guys disappeared, I dropped into a hole myself," he told us. "I landed in a jungle similar to what we first walked into. I was forced to duel against Gansley, who was in the form of a Deep Sea Warrior. I beat him, obviously, and a door appeared in front of me, which I entered and ended up here."

"You mean a door like that?" Téa asked, pointing at a door that was just sitting in the middle of nowhere.

I approached the door and opened it. Inside was a long hallway that looked like it was in a hotel or something. I looked behind the door frame, expecting to see a building of some sort, but there was nothing. "That's not right," I commented. "This place is crazier than…I don't know. Maybe the Shadow Realm. At least in there, there was a building that went with the door."

We stepped through the strange spectacle and it shut behind us and disappeared. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. Yugi and I walked with Téa between us. I looked at pictures hanging on the walls. Most of them were the same. It was a little boy with someone who seemed to be his father. I didn't recognize any of the people in the pictures, but I did see something familiar through an open door. I stopped and stared through the door in amazement.

"Brian? Is everything alright?" Téa asked me. She and Yugi had also stopped and come back to stand next to me.

"I don't know," I said slowly. "This is where I used to live. That's the mansion I lived in before I moved. It's the room that no one used very much. I used to play in there when I was young. Then, when I was older, I spent a lot of time there when I wanted to be alone."

"What? That looks like my bedroom," Téa commented.

"What are you guys seeing? That's my living room," Yugi chimed in.

"Maybe it's all three," I suggested. That drew confused looks from the other two. "It must be something that shows us a place where we…I'm not sure. What do you guys do in these places that's important?"

"Well, when I invite people over, we usually sit around in my living room and talk and stuff," Yugi explained. "But that doesn't seem too significant. What about you Téa?"

"I write in my diary when I'm in my bedroom. But I don't see how that matters," she said.

"No, it does matter," I told them. Once again they looked at me confusingly. "Yugi spent time with his friends there and Téa wrote in her diary. And I…well, I'd rather not talk about that, but there is a connection. Emotions. These are places where we have experienced our strongest emotions."

"That's not completely true," Téa commented. "Lately, I have felt my strongest emotions when I've been with you."

"That _is_ true," I agreed. I looked across from the door and saw a picture of the same kid, but he was alone in the picture. I began to think it had something to do with that picture. "Maybe it's when we were alone? No, Yugi wasn't alone. He was with his friends," I thought to myself. "Wait, my mansion…the young boy…maybe that's it…" I thought I figured it out. "How long have you guys lived in your houses?"

"I think about two and a half years for me," Téa answered. "Yugi lived here when I moved in though so he was here longer. Why do you ask?"

"Because of that picture," I said, pointing to the picture on the wall. "It appears that in that picture the boy is younger than in the rest. When I lived in that mansion, I was younger. You guys spent time in those locations when you were younger. We each see a place of intense emotion that we have visited in our pasts."

"Very good, Brian," Noah's voice echoed from nowhere. The open door shut and disappeared. "I didn't expect you to figure it out so quickly."

"You mean this was a test?" Téa asked.

"Of course, he's toying with us. He put me and Yami through our own puzzle earlier," Yugi said.

"Perhaps I made them too easy," Noah continued. "I guess I'll make them harder for Kaiba. He is my true target after all. Maybe I said too much, but why should you worry about that when Joey has his own problems?"

"Where is he?" I demanded. There was no response, but a set of double doors appeared in front of us. "I guess he's through there."

We pushed the doors open and walked into what looked like a courtroom. Joey was dueling against another one of the Big Five, this one in the form of Judge Man. The monster ordered us to be seated and to stop interrupting his trial. The three of us took a seat and silently watched the rest of the match. Joey barely won, but that's all he needed to be victorious.

"Hey, have you guys seen Serenity anywhere?" Joey asked us after the match.

"Sorry, Joey. We haven't seen any of the others since we got split up," I said truthfully.

"Don't worry. If she met up with Duke and Tristan, she'll be fine," Yugi added. In the distance, we heard a girl scream.

"That sounded like-" Téa started.

"Serenity!" Joey called out as he rushed out of the courtroom. Yugi, Téa, and I rushed after him to help in any way we could.


	12. Virtual World, Part 2

Okay, here's chapter 12. I want to mention that there is a well hidden Gundam Seed reference in here somewhere. Note that I don't own Gundam Seed either. I'm pretty sure this isn't what happened in the show, but anything past Noah's defeat I haven't seen. From here on out, I'm wingin' it!

Chapter 12: Virtual World, part 2

"Where is she?" Joey asked out loud. We were running down the longest hallway in the world, searching for the origin of Serenity's scream. We passed the same scenery the entire length of the hall. It reminded me of an old cartoon where they passed the same furniture over and over again. There were no distinguishable landmarks so there was no way of telling if we were just on an endless loop. Then something caught my eye. It was a gray door that looked like it was rusting out.

"Maybe this is it," I told them. I turned the knob and pushed it as hard as I could but it wouldn't budge. "It must be locked."

"I'll show you locked," Joey said. He kicked the door with full force and it promptly fell flat.

"So much for locks," Yugi muttered. Joey ran through the door with us close behind. We stepped out onto a catwalk that overlooked a large room. Down below, I could make out two figures dueling. It was Duke and Serenity and they were up against one monster. It looked like Machine King, only it was a little different. Between the two sides of the field was a large gap that dropped into a pool of molten rock. There was also a gap between Duke and Serenity that had a single monster floating above it.

"Saint Joan, attack!" Serenity's timid voice called out. I watched as the fairy-type monster took down the machine in a single stroke. It must have been the deck master because there were no other opposing monsters and the holograms shut down. We found a stair case and quickly clambered down to meet with the victors.

"Serenity!" Joey shouted. She turned around and rushed to her brother. They met in a hug halfway. "I'm so glad you're okay, sis."

"Joey, he forced us to duel him, we didn't have a choice," Serenity cried.

"It's okay, you won and now you're safe," Joey comforted her.

"During the duel…Tristan lost and he disappeared," she explained through her tears.

"What does she mean?" Yugi asked Duke.

"We were behind in the match, way behind. Tristan brought his deck master to the field, which was a risky move to start with, but it was the only monster that could take down his," Duke explained. "Then Nezbitt played Limiter Removal that doubled his power and Tristan didn't stand a chance. The floor beneath him collapsed and he fell into the pit."

I listened to his explanation and walked to the edge. I looked down and felt the heat rising from the magma. Something wasn't right though. "He's alive," I said plainly.

"Sorry for being pessimistic, but are you nuts? No one could survive down there," Duke said.

"Think about it. The Big Five need bodies. Why would they dump something they need into something that could destroy it?" I stated my point. "They can create portals to other parts of this place. We've seen it before, right when we got here. It only makes sense that they made a portal down there and took him away at the last second."

"He's right," Yugi added. "All he have to do now is find out where they took him." We agreed with him and found an exit to the factory like area. The door led us to an alley where we ran right into Kaiba and Mokuba.

"Hey you guys!" Mokuba exclaimed. "It's good to see you again!"

"It's not like I'm glad you're alright, but I can't let the Big Five threaten my company again," Kaiba said smugly.

"Good to see you care," Téa said sarcastically. I could have sworn I heard Kaiba mutter "sorry" under his breath.

"Come on, we're leaving," Kaiba commanded. Suddenly, the roar of a vehicle echoed through the alley. A motorcycle with a dark figure on it came from around the corner. I pressed my back against the wall of a building and held Téa against me, out of the way. Yugi and Duke were across the way and Joey slammed himself against the wall, with Serenity, next to me. The rider grabbed the only person that couldn't get out of the way in time, Mokuba. The bike skidded to a stop a few feet away from us.

"What in the world are you doing, ya jerk?" Joey demanded. The rider turned around wearing an evil grin. "Tristan?"

"What do you think you're doing, Taylor? Let my brother go this instant!" Kaiba ordered angrily.

"But Mr. Kaiba, that wouldn't be any fun, now, would it?" he said. However, it wasn't Tristan's voice that came out.

"Leichter," Kaiba snarled.

"Now if you want him back you'll have to come get him," he sneered. He revved the bike's engine a couple times and rode off down the alley. Kaiba rushed after him, leaving the rest of us behind.

"Stay here, I'll go after them," I said to the others over my shoulder.

"I'm coming with you!" Yugi shouted after me.

"Me too!" Téa called out.

The three of us ran in the direction Kaiba went, but he was faster than we thought and we quickly lost sight of him. Then a different motorcycle rushed past us, flowing from the back was Kaiba's trench coat.

"Great, now we'll never catch up," I commented. "At least we _tried_ to help."

"Yeah. Let's get back to the others," Yugi said. "I don't think we should be separated too long while we're here."

We turned around to retrace our steps only to hear a horn blaring. An old blue pickup truck pulled up to us with a familiar driver.

"Hey, guys! Check out we found!" Joey shouted. Astonished, Yugi took a seat in the cab next to Duke and Téa and I climbed in the back with Serenity and a monkey.

"Monkey? What? That wasn't here when I left," I thought. "Where did you get this?" I asked.

"Oh, him? After you guys ran off, this little robot just showed up," Serenity explained. "We couldn't get rid of him. We tried but he just clung to my leg."

"Here, let me take a look. I'm pretty good with electronics," I said. She nodded and picked up the robot and held it out to me. When I grabbed it, the robot monkey grabbed Serenity's arm and held on for dear life. After carefully prying the fingers back, I finally got him away from the girl. I examined the robot up and down before finding a door on its back. I opened it and started fiddling with the wires. Serenity started talking to her brother through the open rear window and Téa watched over my shoulder as I messed with the circuitry.

"Figure it out?" Téa asked me curiously.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I think the memory systems are in the head, but I haven't found a power source yet. It looks like it has a black box like an airplane. It might be some sort of surveillance device that Noah sent after us. I may be able to override it by bypassing the power flow through another system."

I tugged at a couple of wires and connected them to an arm servo control. The arm started waving around wildly. With a startled yelp, I pulled them back out and replaced them in their original places. I turned to Téa and laughed nervously. Then I heard a click. Looking back in the mechanical body, I saw a panel open on the black box. Inside was a numerical button pad and a LED screen.

"What's that?" Téa asked.

"A control panel, maybe?" I wondered. "Looks like it's a programming command system. I wonder…" I typed in a few combinations, but nothing seemed to happen. Then I typed in a long series of ones and zeros and a whirring sound came from it.

"What did you do?" Téa asked. She sounded pretty scared.

"I typed in 'communicate' in binary," I replied. "It was just a simple command line that I used a long time ago when I was trying to build a robotic bird."

"How did that turn out?" Serenity asked. I wasn't aware that she was paying attention to our conversation.

"Well, I couldn't find a small enough chip that could hold the AI and the command recognition program. Then I couldn't find a power supply to power it long enough," I explained. "Eventually, I gave the project up, though I think I still have it packed up somewhere."

"Man, I wish he'd stop messing with me," a voice said.

"Tristan! Where are you?" Serenity called out.

"You can hear me?" Tristan's voice asked. I shut the compartments on the robot and it jumped up and hugged me. "You fixed me! You fixed me!"

"Tristan is the monkey?" Téa asked. "How does that happen?"

"I don't know but if he doesn't stop hugging me I'll really 'fix' him," I stated. He quickly jumped off of me and ran back to Serenity, who actually picked him up and hugged him.

"Oh, Tristan. I was sure we would never see you again," Serenity whispered to him.

A loud noise from up ahead drew our attention. Joey slammed on the brakes and he, Yugi, and Duke piled out to take a look. We looked in amazement as a rocket took off into the sky and disappeared past the clouds. I traced the trail of smoke back down to its source, straight ahead of us on a long bridge.

"Joey, let's move it!" I shouted and pounded on the roof a couple times. Everyone got back in and Joey headed down the road as fast as the truck could go, which wasn't really all that fast.

"You are starting to annoy me, you know that?" Noah's voice boomed. "I can't have you going to help Seto out." A hoard of monsters appeared in front of us and began to close in.

"Keep going Joey. I'll hold them off," I told him. I held up two cards and summoned the monsters to our aid. "Go my Luster Dragons!" My two monsters appeared and easily kept pace with the old truck. They cut down monster after monster to protect our ride from attack. Yugi crawled out the back window and summoned his own Dark Magician and Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight to help out as well.

Soon we came upon the place where the rocket was shot off from. Kaiba was in a duel with one of the Big Five, who was in the form of Jinzo. The deck master had Kaiba's trap cards disabled and another card had his magic cards out of commission. He did manage to summon his Blue Eyes White Dragon and win the match, but his opponent disappeared with Mokuba.

"That's it! I've had it with this place!" Kaiba shouted at nothing. "Release my brother now Noah!"

Noah made no vocal response, but the world around us began to wobble and morph itself into something new. It was a rocky, mountain-like environment. In front of us stood a boy, seemingly ten years old. Oddly enough, he looked like a miniature Kaiba. He had a duel disk on his arm as well. I knew he wasn't part of the Big Five, I counted the battles and I accounted for all five. This must have been Noah.

"Seto Kaiba we meet at last," Noah said. "I told your brother how you have abandoned him. He wasn't to thrilled with it. But he's safe with me now."

"What are you talking about, you freak?" Kaiba questioned.

"That was uncalled for," Noah replied hurtfully. "I'll just have to put you in your place." His duel disk activated and a deck appeared in the proper place.

"You're challenging _me_?" Kaiba retorted. "When you lose, you're going to release Mokuba and let us all out of this place."

"Agreed. But if I win, you'll stay here forever!" he said with a laugh.

The match began and, for awhile, it was an even match. But Noah's deck master, Shinato's Ark, held any monster Kaiba sent to the graveyard for Noah to use whenever he wanted. As Kaiba's life points dropped to next to nothing, he played one last card.

"I activate Final Attack Orders!" Kaiba exclaimed. "It forces both of us to summon a monster and which ever has the higher attack points wins the match. I choose Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"I choose Shinato's Ark!" Noah proclaimed. Kaiba's monster easily won the match up, but Noah's life points stayed intact. "Ha! I guess you didn't know that when Shinato's Ark is destroyed, it summons another more powerful creature. Behold, Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!"

Before Shinato could strike, Mokuba came running out to his brother. Noah was horrified and dropped a lightning bolt down on him and Kaiba, turning them to stone.

"No, Kaiba!" Yugi called out to them. "What have you done, Noah?"

"They were getting on my nerves," he said without a hint of care. "Since Kaiba can't duel anymore, he forfeits and the rest of you stay here forever."

"Wrong. Kaiba still has 200 life points," Yugi challenged. "I will finish what he started."

"What? Yug, are you insane? You can't win against him in that bad a shape," Joey said trying to get his friend to reconsider.

"Maybe not, but that's not going to stop me from trying," Yugi replied determinately. "I have to do this, not only for our safety, but for Kaiba and Mokuba as well." He stepped up to where Kaiba's deck master, Kaiser Sea Horse, was standing and he and Noah began the duel. Me and the others cheered for the guy who was fighting for us. Noah made derogatory remarks about us from time to time. Our faith in Yugi was making him mad and he appeared to be losing his focus.

"That's it!" Noah yelled after a few moves. "For each turn you fail to defeat me, Yugi, I will turn your friends to stone!"

"Noah, your fight is with me. They are just spectators, so leave them out of it," Yugi commanded.

"Perhaps you need a demonstration?" Noah replied. Another bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, striking the Tristan robot. We watched in horror as he slowly became a statue.

"Yugi, you better beat this guy!" he shouted before the transformation was complete.

Noah looked at him curiously. "Well, that's one less problem to worry about."

"My turn is over now, so make your move," Yugi responded.

"Ah, yes. Now you lose someone else," Noah continued.

"What? You already took one of them!" Yugi shouted.

"That was a demonstration, this time it's for real," he said. "Who should it be? How about one of the love birds? Hmm…okay, the boy!"

I realized he meant me. I quickly shoved Téa away from me so she wouldn't be caught in the trap with me. She tried to come back but I held her in place with the Millennium Bracelet. "I'm sorry, Téa," I told her quietly. "Now, Yugi. Take him down!"

Téa began to cry and her face was the last thing I saw.

* * *

A sudden bright light forced me to slam my eyes shut. Once it subsided, I looked around and saw a bunch of rocks. "Wait, Yugi!" I said out loud. I remembered my body turning to stone and Yugi was battling Noah. I quickly located them and saw Noah sitting on the ground with a terrified look on his face.

"How? I lost…I _never_ lose!" he said.

"Well, you did lose, so now let us go," Yugi replied.

"Yugi, you did it!" Duke cheered. "We're not stone anymore!" I looked around and saw that everyone was fine. Téa quickly found me and hugged me tightly.

"You may have won, but you'll still never leave!" Noah declared. "In thirty minutes, the entire island will explode, taking all of you with it!"

"Mokuba, take them back to the blimp and wait for me there," Kaiba said. I hadn't even noticed that he and his brother were free as well. "I have some unfinished business to take care of."

"Didn't you hear what he said? This place is gonna blow sky high!" a worried Mokuba declared. His brother just gave him a stern look. "Alright, bro. I'll get them out of here."

"Good," Kaiba said simply before rushing off.

"Wait, what about Tristan? "I asked. "As funny as he is right now, we can't just leave him like that."

"Noah, you little punk," Joey said, picking the boy up by his shirt. "You better fix this or else!"

"Fine," he replied. A moment later Tristan's body, his real one, appeared in front of us. "Here's the body, but to get his mind back in it you'll need to use the transfer command on the robot. If you can figure it out, then you get him back. Little good it will do though since you'll all be gone in a few minutes."

"Okay, you guys get going," I told them. "Tristan and I will catch up."

"I'm not leaving you," Téa told me. I glanced at Yugi who nodded. He grabbed Téa's hand and tugged her away with everyone else.

"Alright, come here, monkey boy," I ordered playfully. He complied with a happy smile on his digital face. I opened the compartments and typed in the command and Tristan's body got up. He thanked me and we started to run to catch up with the others. I looked back at Noah, who was surprised at what I had done. I called out a farewell to him. "See ya in the next life!"

About a minute later we came upon an open door with Yugi standing in the door frame. He waved to us as we came into view. He led us up the ramp to the blimp, but I noticed that the roof hatch was still closed. We went to the bridge were Mokuba was trying to get the systems back online.

"Get the engines on now, but don't take off until Set gets back," he told one of the engineers.

"Won't do any good," I told him. "The roof access is still closed."

"Hello? Kaiba craft three?" a young girl's voice came through the communication system. "Is this thing on? Hello?" A screen changed from static to the image of a familiar blonde haired, green eyed face.

"Alexis? How did you get into the system?" I asked.

"Hi, Brian! I can't leave for one day and not have you get into a boat load of trouble, can I?" she responded. "Listen, I'm gonna help you out, one last time. But you'd better not pull something like this again."

"Promise, last time," I answered. "We need engines primed and the roof access door opened. Can you do it? Oh, and, while your at it, can you adjust the self destruct thing?"

"Good grief. You're really in over your head," she said, surprised. "I'll see what I can do, but you're gonna owe me big." I grinned and the monitor shut off.

"Who was that?" Mokuba asked.

"She's are best change for getting out of here," I replied. Ten minutes later we heard the loud, metallic creaking of the roof doors opening and the engine status displayed all green lights.

"Okay, I got the first two things done, but…uh…" Alexis said through the speakers again.

"But what?" I asked.

"I was trying to reset the clock on the bomb, but it…uh…" she continued. "Well, you guys have three minutes to get clear. Sorry!"

"Alexis! If I survive this…" I started to say, but the line clicked off. "She hung up on me. She hung up on _me_."

"It's okay as long as Kaiba get here soon we'll be safe," Téa comforted me. No sooner than she had said that, Kaiba yelled to take off through the internal intercom. Kaiba came through the bridge door a moment later dragging Noah with him.

"What's he doing here, Kaiba?" Serenity asked.

"Well, if you must know, he's my and Mokuba's brother," he said.

"We can figure it out later, guys," I informed them. "Right now, I think we should strap in for some turbulence." We all found seats and braced ourselves for the impact. When it came, the shock waves rocked the aircraft violently, throwing a couple people from their seats.

"Straighten this thing out and put us back on course!" Kaiba shouted over the blaring alarms. The pilots pulled on the manual controls to right the ship then someone else began typing in the destination for the autopilot. "We should arrive at the Battle Tower in about an hour. You can return to your rooms and get some rest."

"What about Noah?" Yugi asked.

"I haven't decided what to do with him yet," Kaiba replied. "And thanks, Yugi. You and your…friends." Kaiba nearly choked on the last word. Yugi just smiled and nodded. Then we filed out of the bridge and headed back to our rooms.

Téa and I went to my room, where I sat at the table and looked through my deck. Téa silently looked out a window, gazing at the sea below us. "I never thanked you, Brian," Téa spoke up after several minutes. I set my cards down and stepped up behind her, resting my head on her shoulder and placing my arms around her waist.

"What are you thanking _me_ for?" I asked.

"For saving me. In our duel with that penguin guy I mean," she answered. "If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be here now."

"You're the one who saved me," I told her.

"But if I was by myself, I would never have had the courage to continue the fight," she continued. "Also, you're the one who figured out Noah's puzzle. I don't think Yugi or I could have solved it. And then there was Tristan…"

"Hush," I whispered. I kissed her on the cheek. "We both did our part, and let's leave it at that."

"Okay," she whispered back. She pulled away from me and turned to face me and spoke in her regular voice. "Now, you have the final matches to prepare for, so I'm going to go check up on the others."

We shared one more kiss before she left. I sat back down and continued looking at my cards. There was one that had a small sticky note attached to the front of it. On it, was one word written in a very neat script. The word was "Alexis."

"One last time," I said, smiling to myself. I gently pulled the note off and looked at the Prohibition magic card that I held in my hand. I wondered how she had slipped it in my deck without my notice. "You always find a way to help out, don't you?"


	13. Obelisk Falls

I know it's taking a little longer for the past few chapters, but I'm hitting some writer's block walls and then there's school work and getting bogged down at home, well let's just say things have been hectic lately. Anyway, the finals have picked back up and I still don't know what is going to happen with Noah, so don't ask. I'm thinking rehab and a psychologist right now, but we'll just have to see. Kaiba goes off character a little bit here, but some things I hinted at earlier will become apparent. This is just my little way of flaming the Kaiba/Téa lovers out there. I think Kaiba's a jerk and I won't read Kaiba/Téa fics at all, so don't bother asking. Kaiba/Serenity, on the other hand, is okay since I don't think Joey's sister isn't worth the argument. Anyway, on with the show!

Chapter 13: Obelisk Falls

"All Battle City finalists and their guests please disembark. We have arrived at our final destination, Kaiba Corp's Battle Tower!" a voice called through the intercom.

I looked at my watch as I stretched my arms and legs. It was 5:00. I must have fallen asleep at some point in time. The last thing I remembered was looking at my cards and finding the card Alexis slipped into my deck. Téa wasn't in the room so I figured that she was still with Yugi and the others. I tucked my deck into its case and walked out the door to the hallway. I saw a medical team a few doors down taking Mai out on a stretcher. Everyone else looked extremely worried as they followed her out.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" I asked curiously. I glanced at their faces one at a time. Joey's looked the worst.

"Mai still hasn't woken up," Téa informed me. "But Bakura is missing."

"What do you mean he's missing?" I questioned.

"It's just that simple, we walked into his room and there was no trace of him," Tristan answered.

"We think Marik is behind it," Yugi spoke up. "He _did_ stay on board when Noah attacked us."

"Alright, get off now," Kaiba ordered. "I have a tournament to win."

"Yes, sir," Duke said sarcastically behind his back. "Let's go before he bursts a blood vessel."

We walked down the ramp and saw Marik standing near the bottom. He smiled evilly but said nothing as we passed. Ishizu was nowhere to be seen. Kaiba led our group into a lobby that had several television monitors on the walls. Each one had a different duel arena on it. Mokuba stood on a podium at the back of the room and he beckoned us to gather around, probably to hear some speech.

"Will the final four duelists please step forward?" he started. Yami had switched with Yugi at that instant and he stepped up to my right. Next to him was Kaiba then Marik. "A number from one to four will appear on you duel disks in a moment. This will be your semifinal match number. Duelist number one will battle number two and number three will battle number four."

I watched my duel disk carefully as a single digit scrolled rapidly from one to four and back. Glancing at Yugi, I saw that his was doing the same thing. Suddenly it stopped, displaying a one. I looked at Yugi's number, which was three, and breathed a sigh of relief. I was glad I didn't have to fight him in the first match. I was surprised to see Kaiba smirking at me. He held up his duel disk, which displayed a two. I was fighting Kaiba, but that meant Yugi was up against Marik.

"Now that you know your numbers, you will now proceed to your dueling arena," Mokuba continued. "Numbers one and two go into the elevator on the left, three and four to the right. Guests will stay here and watch the duels from the monitors. Cheering won't help because all sound from here will be cut off. Say your good lucks now before they leave. Both duels will take place simultaneously in separate rooms. After the matches, the two winners will meet on the roof for the final duel. Guests will be taken up there at the end of the semifinals."

Without a word from either of them, Kaiba and Marik walked over to their respective elevators and stood impatiently. Téa came up to me and hugged me. I stroked her cheek then kissed her on the lips. After our little moment, Yugi approached me.

"Good luck, Brian," he said to me and held out his hand. I shook it and wished him luck as well. "Remember, Kaiba is no pushover. He is a skilled duelist to begin with and he has Obelisk the Tormentor. That makes him nearly unbeatable, but I'm sure you can find a way to defeat him."

"Right. I'll see you on the roof and I'll have Kaiba's Egyptian god card in my hand," I said confidently. He nodded and headed towards Marik. I stepped into the elevator with Kaiba and leaned against the back wall.

"After our match, I'll be taking that Red Eyes Darkness Dragon of yours," Kaiba stated. "Then I want you to do a couple of other things for me."

"And what's that?" I asked irritably.

"Give me that gold bracelet you've been wearing," he replied.

"Why? What could you possibly do with a piece of jewelry?" I responded, trying to persuade him it wasn't worth it.

"It's simple," he continued. "You'll give me that, then leave town and dump Téa and break her heart. I'll come in and cheer her up with it and she'll go out with me instead. You see, there's no point in _you_ being with a girl with a body like hers."

"No way am I going to let that happen," I said angrily. Kaiba just laughed. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down with my thoughts. "He's just trying to get under your skin and distract you, Brian. Shake it off and focus on the match."

After about a minute of silence, the elevator opened its doors to allow us passage to the dueling arena. We stepped up to our designated spots which were dimly illuminated. Neither of us did anything until bright lights shone down on us and Mokuba's voice came through an unseen speaker.

"Everyone is at their designated spots. The match will start at the sound of a buzzer. The duelist with the higher number will go first," Mokuba announced. Seconds after he finished the buzzer went off and the duel began.

"Now you'll see the power of a true champion," Kaiba said. "I play Polymerization to fuse my three Blue Eyes White Dragons together. Behold, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

I watched in awe as my chances of victory became slim to none. With 4500 attack power, Kaiba's dragon was stronger than anything I had, save for Dark Paladin. My hand contained Double Medium, which would give my Dark Paladin the edge, but I had none of the cards necessary to summon it. "What else can I do?" I asked myself. "Draw a card and…Book of Moon. Let's see…Paladin of White Dragon and its ritual card, plus a monster to sacrifice and Trap Jammer. I might be able to make this work…"

"Enough stalling. Make your move already!" Kaiba interrupted my thoughts.

"Fine then. I set one card face down then play White Dragon Ritual and I'll sacrifice Element Dragon from my hand to summon Paladin of White Dragon," I stated clearly. "Then I'll activate my magic card, Book of Moon. This card allows me to change one monster on the field to face down defense position and I select your Ultimate Dragon. Now Paladin of White Dragon, attack his monster!"

"Little good that will do. My dragon has a defense of 3800 and your monster has only an attack of 1900," Kaiba said calmly. When my dragon attacked, however, Kaiba's monster was indeed destroyed. "How did you do that? There's no way you could have destroyed it!"

"On the contrary, Kaiba," I explained. "When Paladin of White Dragon attacks a face down monster it is instantly destroyed, no matter what defense rating it has."

"Hmm…it seems I didn't give you enough credit in your dueling skills," Kaiba said, still seeming over confident. I simply glared at him. "Now I'll summon Saggi the Dark Clown in attack mode and set one card face down."

"He's planning something, I just know it," I told myself. "It must be his Crush Card." I looked at my face down card, Trap Jammer. "That will counter it nicely, plus the Luster Dragon I just drew will cause him some major problems."

"Hurry up!" Kaiba said impatiently. "The sooner you make your move the sooner I can win."

"I summon Luster Dragon and use it to attack Saggi!" I said.

"Fool! You walked right into my Crush Card!" Kaiba laughed.

"Oh did I? I'll counter your trap card with Trap Jammer!" I laughed right back. Saggi the Dark Clown was wiped out and Kaiba lost 1100 life points. I then attacked him directly with Paladin and dropped him to an even 5000. "And to be a further menace, I'll use Paladin of White Dragon's other effect. I sacrifice it from the field to put one of my own Blue Eyes White Dragons in its place!"

"I'll use Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck," Kaiba snarled. After he drew, he grinned. "I play Monster Reborn to revive my all powerful Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Now watch as your Blue Eyes White Dragon is annihilated!"

There was nothing I could do but watch. With no cards on the field and two weaker monsters, I was helpless. My life points fell to 6500. I forced my hand to steady as I drew my next card. It was just the card I needed to buy me some time. "Now your monsters can't attack for three whole turns, Swords of Revealing Light!" I declared.

"You're wasting your time," Kaiba said as he drew. "I pass this turn."

"Very well, then," I said, copying Ishizu's calm demeanor from before. "I'll use my own Pot of Greed to draw from my deck." I drew and saw what I had drawn. It was my Buster Blader and Graceful Charity. I played the latter and drew two dragon monsters, which I discarded, and a magic card called Fusion Gate. There were now ten dragons in play, if I got my Dark Magician soon Kaiba would be toast.

"I summon Giant Germ for this turn," Kaiba stated. He looked a little bit mad, but I didn't care. I just had to beat him, not for myself, but for Téa's heart and the fate of the world if Yugi couldn't defeat Marik.

Much to my dismay, Dark Magician wasn't my next card. Instead it was Stamping Destruction, and it was useless since Kaiba had no magic or trap cards at the moment. "I'll attack Giant Germ with my Luster Dragon!" I proclaimed. Kaiba grinned and I realized what I had just done. It was too late to call off the attack, however. When the monster fell, Kaiba lost another 900 life points, but I lost 500 and two more Germs appeared on the field.

"Now you're finished, Matthews. I activate Diffusion and split my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon into the original Blue Eyes White Dragons," Kaiba said on his next turn. "I offer them as a tribute to call forth Obelisk the Tormentor!"

"Oh…no…" I murmured. My Luster Dragon was no match for an Egyptian god. The giant, light blue creature towered over me, the energy it emitted washing over my entire body. He couldn't attack with it yet so I was safe this turn. "Please…" I said in my mind. "Please let me draw the right card…" I drew the next card, hoping to draw Dark Magician. I looked at the card in horror. Spirit Ryu. Now I was in major trouble. "I switch my Luster Dragon to defense mode and summon Spirit Ryu in defense mode as well."

"Your pathetic monsters are no match for Obelisk!" Kaiba laughed at me. "I sacrifice my Giant Germs to activate Obelisk's Omni Hand Crusher! It inflicts 4000 points of damage to all of your monsters and your life points!"

Obelisk picked up the two round creatures and crushed them in its hands. Then it pulled one hand back and punched my two defensive monsters, crushing them, and hit me dead on. The blow sent my flying onto my back and dropped my life points to 2000. I got back, unsteadily, to my feet. Obelisk the Tormentor couldn't attack in the same turn it used its special effect, but that didn't matter, I was just about through.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I was about to lose everything, my destiny, my girlfriend, my friends, my entire life. It would all be gone in an instant. I thought of Téa, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and everyone else I had met, even my sister. I looked at my Millennium Item. Skarra had trusted me to fulfill an ancient prophecy to protect the Pharaoh, but I couldn't even protect myself. My mind went back to Téa and all the special times we had. Paige had told me we had something and not to ruin it. I shut my eyes hard trying to get the images out of my head. That's when I heard a voice.

"If you ever need someone to support you, I'll be there."

"Téa…" I whispered. She had told me that awhile back. I had promised to do the same for her, but now… "No! I can do this!" I shouted.

"What are you talking about? You can't win!" Kaiba sneered.

"Watch and see," I said calmly. I could feel a new determination build up inside me and flow around me. I pressed two fingers on my next card and quickly pulled it out. "I play Fusion Gate! Then I'll remove Buster Blader and Dark Magician from play to summon Dark Paladin!"

"With an attack of 2900, it's no match for Obelisk!" Kaiba assured himself out loud.

"That's what you think. Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for each dragon in play, all eleven of them," I explained. "That's an additional 5500. But that's not all, I activate Double Medium. This doubles the increases and decreases to my monster's stats. Now Dark Paladin grows to an unstoppable 13900!"

"Th-that's impossible!" Kaiba stuttered. "I can't lose now!"

"Dark Paladin, attack and obliterate Obelisk the Tormentor!" I cried.

My monster charged and leapt into the air above the towering god. Dark Paladin dropped onto Obelisk's head and plunged its sword into the orb on the top. A loud bellow erupted from the god as cracks split from the entry point and crept down its entire body. The parts separated and disintegrated one by one.

I had done it, I beat the unbeatable. "Now do you see, Kaiba? Do you see what happens when you are blinded by power?" I asked defiantly. "Your overconfidence was your weakness. You put too much thought into your cards and not enough faith in those around you. That is why you lost."

"I underestimated you, that's all. You don't need to tell me how to duel," was Kaiba's response to my speech.

"You're right, I don't," I replied. "But perhaps, you should listen anyway."

"Whatever," he spat back. He held out his Egyptian god card to me. "Just take this and shut up!"

I took the card from his hand as a second elevator door opened on a side wall. I walked over to it, assuming it would take me to the roof. Kaiba followed me and leaned against the back wall glaring at me. I stood with my back to him and looked down at the card in my hand.

"Obelisk the Tormentor," I said in my head. "Now for a nice, friendly match with Yugi. I suppose I'll have to give him this card regardless of the outcome. He's the one destined to control it, not me."

Kaiba and I arrived at our destination and found it empty. "I guess we're here early," Kaiba stated. He seemed to have cooled off a little. "We'll just have to wait for the end of Yugi and Marik's duel."

It must have been another twenty minutes before the elevator arrived again. Téa was the first one out, followed by everyone else. She ran to me and hugged me. Her face was buried in my shoulder, but I could hear her sobbing. By the looks on everyone else's faces, something had happened.

"Téa what's wrong?" I asked quietly.

Before she could answer, another elevator opened and out stepped Marik. I carefully stepped away from Téa and frowned at him. I gasped when I saw two things that weren't supposed to be there. Hanging from his neck were Bakura's Millennium Ring and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle.


	14. Slifer Falls

Okay here's chapter 14. Again my apologies. When you lose inspiration things really slow down. I also want to apologize for Marik's deck being inaccurate. I haven't seen him duel very much and don't know many of his cards. Everything will get better in the next chapter or two…I hope. Anyway, chapter 14.

Chapter 14: Slifer Falls

"Marik!" I shouted at him. He had the Millennium Ring and Millennium Puzzle around his neck and I wanted to know why. Chances are, he had Slifer the Sky Dragon again, too. "What have you done with Yugi and Bakura?"

"We had a little agreement," he replied. "If he lost, he would give up Slifer, his puzzle, and spend eternity in the Shadow Realm! As for Bakura, he and my former self were there long before now. Don't worry, you and everyone else will join them soon enough!"

"I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else, Marik," I informed him. I looked at my friends next to me. Téa was crying into her hands and Joey, Tristan, and Duke gave Marik dangerous looks. "When I beat you, you'll release everyone from the Shadow Realm and turn over all of your Millennium Items to me."

"Is everyone ready for the final match?" Mokuba asked. No one had even noticed that he had come up.

"This tournament isn't in your jurisdiction anymore, Mokuba," I told him. "Things have gotten way too far out of control." Mokuba tried to protest, but his brother, who was finally beginning to see what was really going on, reinforced my words.

"I'll agree to your terms, but you must agree to mine," Marik said with an evil grin. "You must give up Obelisk and your soul when you lose. Oh, and I'll be taking this match to the Shadow Realm as well!"

Two of his items glowed as the murky darkness shrouded the entire level. I noticed that the puzzle didn't react. That meant he didn't have control over it yet and Yami might be able to help me later.

"Now to decide how to play this Shadow Game," Marik continued. "There's so many ways, our bodies fading out as we lose life points, losing memories with our monsters. Or how about we play with our former selves on the line? Yes…that sounds fun!"

Marik used the Millennium Rod and the spirit of himself appeared next to him. He was held in place by shackles that faded out into the dark clouds. I sensed a good aura from him. "Ishizu was right. Marik does have a good side," I said to myself. "But what is going to happen when he finds out I don't have another spirit anymore?"

"That's strange…you have a Millennium Item, but not a second spirit," Marik commented. "We'll need a replacement. Any volunteers?"

"Don't even think about it!" I threatened as he turned his gaze to my friends.

"Let's see who you are most attached to," he continued. "Ah, yes, little Téa…" He pointed the rod at her and her body slumped over. Her soul appeared next to me, shackled just like the former Marik.

"Téa? Téa…please talk to me," I pleaded quietly. I looked into her eyes and saw a blank expression. She didn't make any indication that she could hear me. I turned back to Marik, my anger building uncontrollably. "You're going to pay for this."

"Brian, you take him down," Tristan called out. I glanced at him and saw that he had picked up Téa and was holding her in his arms. "Don't worry, man. I'll take care of her for you."

I made a note to thank him later as he took her back down to the lobby. "Now, let's go Marik."

"Finally. I'm eager to begin your suffering," Marik replied. He laughed maniacally to end his comment.

I drew my first card and looked at my hand. It was nearly perfect. Within two turns Marik would be faced with a very difficult challenge. "Let's see how well you fair without your Winged Dragon of Ra. I play Prohibition," I challenged. "Then I set one card face down and summon Masked Dragon in defense mode."

"Already on the defensive I see," Marik laughed. "I summon Revival Jam in attack mode. Then I'll set this card face down and activate Jam Breeding Machine." I watched the small jell creature pop out and sit on the field. "Now your Masked Dragon, your only defense, will crumble. Revival Jam Attack!"

"That's exactly what I wanted," I told him as the monster literally squeezed the life out of my dragon. "Using Masked Dragon's special effect, I call forth Red-Eyes Black Chick!" The smaller dragon appeared, letting out a small cry. It was weak, but still stronger than his Slime Token.

"That wimpy little monster won't be around for long," Marik commented.

"It has served its purpose already. I'll send it to the graveyard to summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon," I declared proudly. I saw his confident smile change to a grimace. "If you thought that was all, you were wrong. I sacrifice my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to call forth Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

The same spectacle that had occurred the last time I summoned it happened once again. This time the backdrop of the Shadow Realm accented the darkness of the dragon itself. Its power rose to 3300 for the three dragons in my graveyard. Marik showed no hint of worry though.

"I thought that you would have a creature of immense darkness in your deck," he cackled.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Any wielder of a Millennium Item has a dark side," Marik explained. "That dark side likes to control the person. In most cases, it is a spirit within the item, but with you it's different. Your darkness resides in that monster card."

"That's nonsense!" I shouted at him. Suddenly, I thought of my match with Joey. I remembered that I had nearly lost myself to the power of that monster. But now I was stronger, wasn't I?

"I can see that you know it to be true," he continued.

"Don't listen to him!" Duke said to me.

"Yeah! He's just tryin' to throw ya off!" Joey added.

"I won't let you win," I told him. "I add Armed Dragon LV3 to the field and attack the Slime Token with Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

"You haven't figured out my strategy by now? I activate Jam Defender!" Marik countered.

"That's what I expected. Reveal face down card, Dragon's Rage!" I declared. "It inflicts damage to your life points even if your monster is in defense mode."

My dragon's attack continued and took 1800 life points from him. As his life points fell, the arm of the spirit next to him began to vanish. "What is going on?" I asked myself. "Why is the spirit of Marik disappearing?"

"Confused?" the evil Marik asked. "You're wondering why my former self is fading into nothing. It's because their souls are tied to our life points. As they fade away, so do the spirits!"

"What happens when they are gone completely?" I asked.

"Who knows? What the Shadow Realm does with them is none of my concern," he answered.

"Great," I said in my mind. "Not only do I have to protect my life points, but I have to prevent Marik's soul from disappearing as well. How am I supposed to do that?"

"Now for my turn I play Infinite Cards and Card of Safe Return," Marik said. "Infinite Cards allows us to hold as many cards as we want in our hands and Card of Safe Return lets me draw one card whenever a monster is revived from my graveyard. Also, another Slime Token is made. And I'll play Nightmare Steel Cage to stop you from attacking for two turns!"

"For my turn I send Armed Dragon LV3 to the graveyard and summon Armed Dragon LV5 in its place," I told him. With another dragon in my graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon grew to 3600. Marik drew his next card and glared at it. A third Slime Token appeared on the field before he ended his turn. From the look on his face, his hand must have been as useless as mine was. The cage disappeared after my next turn.

Marik drew a card and smiled happily. "With this card you will see your defeat! By sacrificing my three Slime Tokens and destroying Jam Breeding Machine, I call forth Slifer the Sky Dragon! Then I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck. Since I now have two cards in my hand, Slifer has 2000 attack points!"

"Slifer is still no match for my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon or Armed Dragon LV5 either," I proclaimed. "I summon Spirit Ryu in defense mode."

"Activate, Slifer's second ability, Thunderbolt Summons!" Marik countered. "Whenever a monster appears on your side of the field, Slifer's second mouth opens and inflicts 2000 points of damage to it!"

Slifer's attack wiped Spirit Ryu from the field without much effort. My Darkness Dragon gained more power from it, but my plan was ruined. I could increase Spirit Ryu's attack and defense by 1000 for each dragon I discarded to the graveyard. I was going to use the ability to move dragons to my graveyard for my most powerful monster on the field. Slifer's ability gave me an idea though. With enough patience, I could raise its attack steadily each turn. First I had to stop him from drawing cards otherwise Slifer would grow too strong, too quickly.

"To finish my turn I attack Slifer the Sky Dragon with Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!" I said.

"Have you forgotten about Jam Defender?" Marik questioned. "It blocks all of your attacks with an invincible monster!" When my monster attacked the gel creature stretched out in front of Slifer and absorbed the hit. My Dragon's Rage trap card inflicted 3400 points of damage to him, dropping him to 2800. The spirit next to him faded out even more and was dangerously close to disappearing for good. "Now Revival Jam is reborn and I get to draw one card, and increase Slifer's power to 3000. Then on my turn I'll draw a card, but instead of leaving it there to power my Egyptian god, I'll set it face down."

"That's a foolish mistake," I informed him. "If I draw the right card, you'll be history."

"Well then I'll just take down your Armed Dragon. Slifer attack!" Marik commanded. The attack only took 600 points from me but it took a little bit of Téa's soul with it.

"You've now raised my monster's attack to 4200 and now I'll take advantage of Slifer's special ability as I summon Element Dragon," I said as I made my move. "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon grows even more to 4500 attack power. Now attack my creature!" I knew that this move would finish him, even if Jam Defender kicked in. With Dragon's Rage in play, the attack would inflict enough damage to reduce his life points to zero.

"I activate my trap card, Enchanted Javelin!" Marik proclaimed. "It takes the full attack power of your monster and adds it to my life points. Then Revival Jam will take the force of the attack." His counter went back up to 7300 then dropped down to 3300. Then he drew a card for the regeneration of the monster and another one for his turn. Slifer now had an attack power of 4000. My dragon was stronger for now, but after another of Marik's turns Slifer would have the edge. Marik skipped his next turn to wait until Slifer was stronger.

My turn came and I drew the card that would help me beat Slifer once and for all. "I'll play the magic card called Stamping Destruction. And I'll use it to destroy Jam Defender and inflict 500 points of damage to you. And now that Revival Jam can no longer protect it, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, destroy Slifer the Sky Dragon!"

"No! That can't be true!" Marik shouted. My dragon pulled back for the strongest attack yet and unleashed it against the mighty god monster. The attack resulted in Slifer's head taking the hit and a series of explosions rolled down its snake like body. Marik only lost 500 life points from the strike and he stared, wide eyed, at the place where Slifer had been a few seconds ago.

"Now I'll summon Luster Dragon to the field and end my turn," I declared proudly. I looked over at Joey, Duke, and Serenity who were still watching the match. Serenity was smiling happily and Joey and Duke stood with their jaws hanging open. To my other side was Kaiba. He was sitting there glaring at me, probably still mad for my beating him.

"I summon Makyura the Destructor in defense mode and play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Dragon's Rage," Marik said in an extremely mad tone. With nothing to play for my next turn, I skipped it and let Marik continue on. With me having a monster with 4500 attack points and Marik with only 2300 life points I was pretty confident he couldn't do anything to beat me. He merely skipped his turn and let me move on.

"Now I can finish this," I said. "I play Change of Heart to take control of Revival Jam. Now I'll attack Makyura with Luster Dragon and attack you directly with my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

Marik yelled in horror as my attacks went through and defeated him once and for all. The shadows around us disappeared along with Téa's soul. I hoped it had returned to her body like Marik told me it would. I stepped up to my opponent kneeling on the ground and took Slifer from his duel disk. As I reached for the rest of his deck, the Millennium Ring reacted and threw me away. I landed on my feet and charged at him knowing he wasn't giving up easily. I tackled him and he threw me off once more.

"You'll never defeat me!" He yelled at me menacingly. He held up the Millennium Rod and created a portal to the Shadow Realm. I charged at him again but he jumped into the portal before I could reach him. He closed the door behind him to prevent anyone from following him.

"No…I let him get away," I said under my breath. Joey and the others rushed over to me. "This is all my fault. Now Yugi's going to be trapped forever. Mai and Bakura too."

"At least now he knows you're a threat to him," Joey commented. "Even with two Egyptian god cards and three Millennium Items he couldn't beat ya."

"One Egyptian god and two items," I responded. I pulled Slifer out of my pocket and showed it to them. Then I made a gesture to the ground where I had landed the last time. The Millennium Puzzle was lying near there. "I managed to get it off of him when I tackled him. Marik was in such a hurry to escape I doubt he noticed it was gone. He's probably seeing it now so he'll be back. We need to get this back to Yugi as soon as possible."

Just then Tristan and Téa came back. Téa ran directly to me and I held her in my arms once again. "You saved me again," she said. "Remind me to thank you later."

"It's not over yet," I told them. "Let's go get Yugi."

"We can't," Tristan said sadly. "He's…he's gone."

"Marik sent him to the Shadow Realm, then," I stated. I hung the Millennium Puzzle around my neck and I immediately felt Yami's presence and power. "I'm going in after him."

"I'm coming with you," Téa informed me.

"Alright," I sighed. I used my bracelet to open a portal to the Shadow Realm similar to what Marik had done. I grabbed Téa's hand as we stepped through. "Téa, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"I'm sorry," I answered. She gave me a confused look as I turned to face her. I kissed her lips gently then shoved her back out into the real world and sealed the portal we had entered. I watched her try to come back through but it closed before she made it. "I have to do this one without you. Now, to get my friends back…"


	15. Trials

Additions to disclaimers this time. I don't own Starfox Adventures or .Hack/sign. You'll see what I mean. Seven new names come into play as well. They are taken from a new PS2 game that is coming out called .Hack/G.U. and I don't own that either. It will be very apparent where I got ideas from (if you know the sources) so I shouldn't have to explain what part is from where. Now on with chapter 15.

Chapter 15: Trials

"I'm so sorry, Téa," I said to no one. "I really want you here with me, but it's far too dangerous. Now, where did Marik get to?"

I looked around at where I was, expecting to see the Temple of Abydos like always. Instead, I saw a new place, one that I did not recognize. It looked like a palace, with black brick and four tall towers that were covered in long spikes. The entire area seemed to sit on a giant pillar of ground that rose out of nothing. I was standing on what appeared to be a bridge, most of which had broken away long ago and didn't lead to any where in particular. I saw an open doorway and through it came a light, as if from torches. I jumped when a boom of thunder rippled through the area. I looked up and saw dark clouds flashing occasional lightning bolts, but there was no rain to speak of.

"This must be the place," a deep voice said from beside me. I turned to look and saw Yami standing there in a transparent state, like a ghost.

"Yami? But how are you here? Without Yugi?" I asked in shock.

"I am speaking to you through the Millennium Puzzle and am projecting myself with its power," he explained.

"Alright," I said with a nod. "About a month ago I would never have believed that story for a second. Any idea what this place is?"

"Not a clue," he replied, gazing at the structure in front of us. "What do you say we take a look? I bet you anything this is where Marik is hiding our friends."

We walked to the open door and saw that it was not open after all. There was a heavy steel cage over the entrance. To the right side was a hole big enough for my hand to fit through and an inscription above that. I looked at the symbols and recognized them as being the same as what was on the tablet I got with my bracelet. This time, however, I could read it as if it were written in English.

"It says 'Place the lost item here.' What does that mean?" I wondered.

"Maybe it refers to the puzzle," Yami suggested. "It _was_ lost in a match."

"Perhaps, but then, why would someone make a place like this just in anticipation of that event?" I said. "Someone would have to have known that it would be taken and, if this place is supposed to help return it to its rightful owner, it would be a lot easier to prevent the catastrophe in the first place."

"That makes sense…but what else could it mean? Mine is the only item that was lost," he countered.

"Lost in that sense, yes. But the Millennium Bracelet wasn't recognized by Shadi, not to mention anyone else with knowledge of the items. Maybe 'lost' in this context means forgotten," I tried.

"Try it and see," Yami suggested.

I slowly slid my right arm into the hole and discovered an imprint on the back a few inches in. I felt around it with my fingers and realized that it was shaped like a hand print. Odder still, my hand was just the right size for it and I matched my hand to it and pressed in. I heard a faint click and a bright gold light shone out of the hole. Next, the rattling of chains drew my attention and the gate that blocked our access rose.

"What do you know…" I asked rhetorically.

"Well done…" Yami commented.

The two of us entered the doorway and walked down a long hallway that was well lit by torches, just as I had surmised. Eventually we came upon two heavy oak doors. Since Yami was a spirit, I had to do all of the pushing. The door that I opened had to have weighed at least a hundred and fifty pounds and I only opened it about two feet. I stepped through the door and onto a much better surface than what was on the other side. It was black marble that was polished to the point where it was reflective.

Taking a more detailed look around the room, I noticed a very high arching ceiling and several rows of wooden pews lining the sides of the room. At the head of the room was a large window that was flat at the bottom and rose up from there to an arch high on the wall. There was a semicircle design that joined with the top arch to make a complete circle and three smaller circles under the large one that were equal in size and stretched from side to side. Another set of the smaller ones were below it in the same configuration. Below the window was a carved block that must have been a place of importance, like where someone would give an important speech to an audience. A single ray of greenish-yellow light shone down upon it from the uppermost circle on the window. All in all, I had to say it must have been a chapel of some sort and it was beautifully built.

"Amazing…simply, amazing," I stated in awe. My footsteps made a quiet tap that echoed off the walls and ceiling as I walked through the room toward the front of the room. "This room looks pretty well kept, especially considering the condition of the outside of the building. And yet, there's no one here to keep it in such good condition."

"What is the purpose of this place though? There's no indication of what it was," Yami pointed out.

"I think we're about to find out," I said. I felt a presence, no several presences, around us, but saw no one. I heard a sudden whirring sound and six purple glowing orbs flew at me from nowhere. They circled a few times before going to the altar and floating above it in a line.

"Welcome to the Shrine of Trials," a male voice said.

"We have been expecting you," another voice said, this time female.

"When the balance of power has been shifted…" said a different male.

"The bracelet's guardian will appear…" another male continued.

"And he shall repair the damage," a second female finished.

"You are the guardian and now you will gain your true power," another female explained.

Suddenly, the orbs flew up in a tight circle, swirling around each other like they were dancing. A moment later they stopped and shot off in different directions and vanished through the walls. A door appeared in the wall to my right and something, I don't know what, drew me toward it.

"Should we go through?" Yami asked curiously.

"I don't know anything about any trials or what this true power is supposed to be, but I'm beginning to wonder," I replied. I stepped up to the door and looked through it seeing nothing but blackness. I cautiously stepped through it and immediately I was in another room. With a glance behind me I saw that the door was gone. The new room was a rectangular shape made of dark gray bricks. Several columns surrounded the room, each with a torch on it to light the area. In the center of the room was one of the orbs from earlier.

"Keeper of the Bracelet, greetings. I am Atoli. Are you ready for your first test?" the orb said. It flickered with a slight glow with each word it spoke. The voice matched the one of the first female voice from before.

"I guess, but who are you exactly? And what are these trials for?" I demanded.

"All will become clear in time," she told me. "Your first test is the Test of Observation. I will hide in one of these baskets and you must find me."

"That's all? And I thought it would be hard," I laughed. Three woven baskets appeared in front of me and Atoli hid in the middle one. The three baskets moved around and switched orders several times before stopping in a straight line once again. "This isn't a trial, it's a joke. You're in the basket on the left."

"Very good, young one. Now let's make it a bit harder," she said, rising from her hiding spot. Three more identical baskets appeared. She hid in one of them again and they began switching places more rapidly than last time. My eyes could barely track the target as they switched around.

"Okay, now you're in the one second from the right," I answered slowly.

"Well done!" she congratulated me. "And now the final challenge."

After she said that, the six baskets formed a wide circle around me and were joined by another six. Atoli hid in one of them again and this time the baskets began switching places all around me. They went so fast I couldn't keep up with Atoli's and I soon lost it. The worst part was they were all exactly identical without even a minor flaw that would give away one from the other.

"I know that you couldn't follow it with your eyes this time, but I know that you have the ability to find me," she said after the objects had ceased movement. "Use that and you will complete the first trial."

"What does that mean?" I asked myself.

"Try your bracelet, Brian," a deep voice said in my head.

"You think so, Yami? Okay, I'll try," I replied. I closed my eyes and reached out with my feelings and probed the first basket. I could see the object in my mind and a faint golden glow shone from under the lid. "That's it. Wait, I'd better check another to make sure." I turned my attention to the next basket and got the same results. "Maybe that's not it…but what am I looking for?" I checked five more baskets and still hadn't seen anything different. I was about to move on to a sixth when I finally noticed something different. There was a dark aura surrounding the basket. "That's it! She was never hiding _in_ the basket, she was hiding as _part_ of it."

"I found you!" I declared. I opened my eyes and approached the basket and touched it. All of the baskets vanished and Atoli was not seen. "What happened? Did I lose?"

"On the contrary," Atoli's voice echoed. I spun around to find her orb floating in the middle of the room again. "You have passed the test, just as I thought you would. Of course, you're probably wondering what will happen now."

I was wondering the exact thing, in fact, but before I could respond the purple orb charged forward, aimed directly at me. I shouted in surprise and put up my arms for protection. I braced myself for the hit, but it never came. I looked around for the orb but it was gone. Without thinking, I set my eyes on my bracelet which was pulsing with a faint purple light.

"It is done," echoed Atoli. "You have been given the first key. Now proceed with your next test."

"The first key? What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice resounding off the chamber walls. There was no response from the mysterious woman. I did, however, hear the crumbling of rock. After searching for the source of the sound, I saw another caged off doorway with another keyhole.

"Let's get going," Yami said to get me moving. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can find Marik and save our friends."

The new door worked the same way as the first one did. The only difference was that there was a single thin ray of purple light along with the gold. It originated at the top of the lock and rotated one hundred eighty degrees to the bottom. With the click of the lock opening and the rusty creak of chains, the cage door slide upward to allow passage to me and Yami's ghost. We walked through the door to have it vanish behind us again, leaving us in a room identical to the one we had just left. Another orb waited for us in this new room.

"Don't they have any other ideas?" I muttered.

"Welcome to test number two, young warrior," a voice laughed from the orb. It was male but sounded rather high pitched. "I am Kuhn and I will be giving you the Test of Combat."

"Combat? You want me to fight a little floating ball of light?" I asked skeptically.

"Oh, no-no-no," Kuhn answered. "You'll be fighting someone much worthier than me."

With that comment the cage door on the other side of the room opened. I heard the clanking of metal as it hit the stone floor. Out of the darkness stepped a man with hair as gray as the walls of the chamber. He was about the same height as I was and wore black armor that rose into spikes on the shoulders, forearms, shins, and feet. The spikes themselves were colored blood red, which started at the points and faded gradually into black as they reached their bases. The armor itself wasn't too bulky and was probably meant for speed rather than defense.

"I have to fight this guy?" I asked. "This won't end well."

"This is Aida, the guardian knight of the temple. Your passing of this test will depend on your skill against him," Kuhn announced. "Behind you is a variety of weapons for you to use. You may choose whichever you like."

I turned and saw an altar similar to the one in the main room with varying swords, spears, and axes. Looking over them carefully, I realized that they were from different warrior type monsters, magic, and trap cards from Duel Monsters. I was about to pick up the Celtic Guardian's sword when a different blade caught my eye. It looked exactly like the one my Dark Paladin used. I picked it up by the longer than needed handle and felt it to be lighter than I had anticipated. I only hoped I knew how to use it.

"Ah, the Blade of Dragon Destroyer. A fine choice indeed," Kuhn noted.

"I'll be using the shape shifting weapon known as Mirage," Aida stated. A white light appeared behind him as he reached over his shoulder and pulled out a sword that was as long as I was tall. It was a double edged sword with serrated edges. I looked at my pitiful sword, which wasn't even as long as my arm, and I knew I couldn't win.

"And now…begin," Kuhn said quickly and without much regret. I charged my opponent with everything I had, making quick slashes at his body. I was surprised at how well I was fighting, considering I had never done this before in my life. All of my attacks were easily deflected by the broad side of Aida's weapon. After a few strikes, I jumped back. I was breathing heavily from the rapid attack. Aida, on the other hand, hadn't even broken a sweat.

"How am I supposed to beat him? This isn't even a fair match up," I thought to myself. "I need about double my strength if I am going to even touch him…wait, can I call on the power of my Double Medium card?"

My thoughts shattered when Aida's sword came crashing down at me. I dove to the side, narrowly avoiding what would have been my death. I snagged the first card from my deck which was still in my duel disk and held it up to my face. It was exactly the one I was looking for.

"Now, how to use it?" I thought. I used my small sword to deflect a horizontal strike over my head. I did the only thing I could think of, I held the card high in the air. "Activate, Double Medium!" I must have guessed right because the card began to shine with an intense light. The card vanished and was replaced by a second sword in my other hand.

"What? Two?" Aida asked in shock. He quickly put his sword away and pulled out two smaller ones from the same light as before. He held them in either hand upside down like daggers. I held my two in the same fashion. He let out a yell as he charged at my left side. My left arm instinctively shot up and blocked his first hit. I heard him gasp shortly when our blades locked. He pulled his back and attacked with a flurry of blows, all of them I somehow managed to block with the same arm. He wound up for one final hit and let loose with a devastating hit. Or it would have been but I stopped it without difficulty. The blades locked once more, this time I broke it. I pulled mine quickly across his to my right and sent him flying across the room, his twin blades clattering to the floor.

"Very, very interesting. You are very resourceful, young warrior," Kuhn stated. "I declare you the victor. You pass this test."

I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the swords to the ground. One of them turned back into my card, which I picked up and slid it back into my deck. The second orb dropped from the ceiling and flew towards me and was absorbed into the Millennium Bracelet. The bracelet glowed with a purple aura, a little more intense this time, and returned to its original gold sheen. I looked up and saw that there was no one else in the room, aside from Yami. Even Aida had disappeared.

"How did you do that? That fight seemed to be easy for you," Yami asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea how I was able to move that fast or skillfully," I admitted. "I just hope I don't have to do anything like that again."

With the encouragement of Yami, I continued on to the next door. It was the same as the others, with the exception of a new purple light at the two o'clock position. I walked into the next room and it too appeared to be the same as the rest. However, there wasn't an orb in the middle of the room and as soon as I stepped in half of the torches went out and the other half dimmed. Several small amber dots appeared all around the room in the shadows, all of them apparently trained on me.

"I don't think this is a good thing," I commented, fear slowly creeping into my voice.

A few of the dots came closer and I made out the form of a Uraby in the dim light. I realized the amber dots were the glow of their eyes and there were approximately twenty of them. A few more approached me and I cautiously stepped back. I moved my hand to my deck slowly, hoping I could summon a monster to my defense. Right before I could draw, however, the nearest Uraby charged.

I let out a short yelp and dove out of the way. After landing, I looked up to see another one diving at me and I barely rolled out of the way to avoid getting my head torn off by its massive jaws. I kept leaping and diving away as the creatures attacked, narrowly avoiding capture every time. Soon, the attacks became less frequent and the Urabys ran back into the darkness. I then heard the pounding foot steps of something very large approaching slowly. I looked around in fear and saw nothing but still heard the foot steps of the behemoth.

A sudden piercing roar from behind me forced me to spin around and see what had been coming. There in front of me stood a Two-Headed King Rex. It let out another roar from both of its mouths and thrust its heads at me. I yelled and dove to the ground covering my head with my hands, waiting for the beast to devour me.

But it never came. I sat up and looked around the room and saw that the torches were back on at full strength. It was all very confusing. A string of laughter erupted through the room a few moments later.

"That was quite entertaining. I haven't seen someone that scared since Skarra took the trials," a voice said.

"What? Who are you?" I demanded.

"I am Haseo, of course," he replied. A third orb appeared in front of me and I knew he was one of the trial beings. "You have passed the Test of Fear."

"You mean to tell me that scaring me out of my mind was a _test_?" I asked. "And how do you know Skarra?"

"Why, he took the same trials to become the Pharaoh's guard," Haseo told me. "He was just as scared as you were during this one. It was quite humorous."

"Scaring people isn't funny!" I shouted.

"Maybe not to you, but it is what I exist for," he replied amusingly. "But now you must move on to your next test."

After gaining another orb in my bracelet, I pressed on to the next room. I muttered a few curses under my breath aimed at Haseo on the way. There I was greeted by another orb.

"Hello, I'm Endrance," she greeted me timidly. "This is the Test of Trust. Unfortunately, at this point only the Pharaoh can allow you to continue and he's not around at this time. You'll have to wait here for his revival, which may not be for sometime I'm afraid. But I will make your life great while you're here. I guess you're out of luck as far as the trials go."

"Figures, I've been out of luck my whole life," I commented as I sat against one of the columns.

"You have Téa's heart don't you?" Yami reminded me. His projection stood in front of me and gazed down with a smile.

"Well, yeah, I guess there's that…" I replied. The very thought brought a slight smile to my face. Before I could say anymore Endrance cut in.

"King Yami! I would bow before you, my lord, but I have no body to do so," she said.

"There's no need for…wait, you can see me?" he responded with a look of confusion. "I thought I was projecting myself only to Brian."

"Ah, so Brian is his name," Endrance said with a tone of clarity. "He looks just like Skarra, you know."

"Yes, we've met before," Yami answered. "But now, we really need to continue with these trials. Our friends are in great danger and we are the only ones who can help them."

"Oh, I see. But I cannot allow you to pass without taking the trial," she explained.

"Couldn't you just let me go and I'll come back later to finish?" I suggested.

"I'm afraid not," Endrance replied politely. "There are specific rules that must be followed…"

"I don't care if there are rules!" Yami declared. He sounded very upset. "The lives of innocent people are on the line! Innocent people that Brian promised to protect and right now only one thing is preventing him from doing just that. That one obstacle is you!"

For the first time in this conversation, Endrance was speechless. I was also surprised that Yami thought so highly of me. I waited eagerly to hear what she had to say to Yami's speech.

"I see…" she said after a few minutes. "It seems you have earned the trust of many with your promises. You are also keeping those same promises. Very trustworthy indeed. You have passed my test."

"That was a waste of time," I said after gaining the fourth orb.

"Only two more," Yami reassured me. I nodded and we continued on to the next chamber. It was the same as the previous ones and had a little purple orb floating in the middle of the room.

"Welcome," it greeted us. "You have done well to have come this far. Now, I, Yata, will give you the Test of Knowledge."

"Alright, let's get this over with," I said impatiently.

"Very well. I do advise you to take your time with my test. Think carefully about your responses to the questions I am about to ask you," he told me. "Your first question, name three monsters that have attack powers lower than 3000 and can beat a monster with an attack greater than 3000 without any magic or traps."

"That's easy, Suijin, Kazejin, and Sanga of the Thunder," I replied confidently.

"Good. Question two, the Gravekeeper's Assailant has an ability that can only be used while what magic is in effect?" he asked. The question was a little harder than the last, but I still knew the answer.

"The answer is Necrovalley," I stated calmly.

"Correct. Question three, what is the power of Swords of Concealing Light?" he questioned.

"It…" I started. I stopped to think. It was a newer card that I had only seen once, when I was creating my card database at home. I honestly couldn't remember what it did. "I…don't know…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Yata replied. "Question four, all toon type monsters can be summoned only when Toon World is active on your side of the field. Is this statement true or false?"

"False," I replied. This one I knew for sure. Toon monsters were some cards I collected when I was little and I had most of them, but one in particular stuck out in my mind. "Toon Gemini Elf operates as the other toon monsters do except for the fact that Toon World isn't required in order for it to be summoned."

"Yes, that is right," he responded. "Now the final question, you have three cards in your hand and none on the field. Your opponent has no magic or traps and has Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon in play. What cards would you need in order to beat your opponents monster?"

"I've been in this situation before," I said to myself, thinking back to my duel with Kaiba. "I would need Paladin of White Dragon, White Dragon Ritual, and Book of Moon. Wait…no. I also need a level four monster to tribute…but if I had Pot of Greed instead of Book of Moon…that will work…I think…"

"I await your response," Yata informed me.

"Alright I think I have it," I said after another minute. "If everything goes right, I play Pot of Greed from my hand and draw two cards. Now I would have four cards in my hand and they would have to be Paladin of White Dragon, White Dragon Ritual, Book of Moon, and a level four or higher monster."

"Continue," Yata said after he thought about it for a second.

"I summon Paladin of White Dragon using all the cards except Book of Moon," I continued to explain. "Then I activate Book of Moon and switch Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon into face down defense position. Paladin of White Dragon destroys any face down monster instantly when it attacks it. The face down monster isn't flipped and there is no damage."

"That is very inventive," Yata approved. "It could also be defeated by Raigeki or Dark Hole. You have passed the fifth test."

"But, I got one wrong," I reminded him. I knew I shouldn't have in case he forgot, but I did anyway.

"Yes, and you would have failed if you hadn't come up with your last answer," he explained. "Now allow me to increase your power." I watched the orb be absorbed into the bracelet and began walking to the next room.

"Soon we'll be out of here and we can save Yugi and the others," I said to Yami. I opened the next lock and stepped through the door. Surprisingly, this room was slightly different from the others. In the middle of the room was a stone that appeared to have writing on it. Above it, was the last orb.

"Hello, I'm Sakubo. I'm glad you finally made it to this point," she said.

"Yeah, thanks. Let me guess, your trial has something to do with this rock?" I said in response.

"No. This stone has the inscriptions of all the people that have passed all six trials," she explained. "Go ahead and take a look."

I watched the orb carefully as I stepped up to examine the stone. I was expecting something to be sprung on me as soon as I did, but nothing happened. Letting the thought of a trap go, I examined the stone and saw that she was right. Inscribed on the stone were several names, all of which were written in the ancient font. I recognized only one name on the list, the very last one. It was Skarra.

"So, he _did_ take the trials. But I have his knowledge, why didn't I remember them?" I wondered out loud.

"Because many of his memories were erased a few years later," Sakubo explained.

"Erased? Why?" I asked.

"Five thousand years ago there was a great battle between Yami and his greatest foe, a sorcerer named Amun-Set," she explained. "Skarra at the time was Yami's general in his army and together they fought against Amun-Set. The result was a defeat for both sides. Amun-Set's army was all but wiped out and Yami's kingdom was left in shambles. Seeing no other option to stop the war, Yami wiped the memories of nearly everyone, including himself, and put Skarra in charge of the Millennium Bracelet."

"Well…that does explain some things," Yami murmured in surprise.

"This ringing any bells?" I asked him curiously. He shook his head in a negative response. I turned back to Sakubo to see what else she knew. "If Yami erased everyone's minds, how do you know all this?"

"Because he knew we could be trusted with this information. We were his priests," she replied. "We were spared because, one day, he knew he would need this information as well as the power of the bracelet once again."

"Well, I buy it," I stated. "How about you Yami?"

"It makes sense I suppose," he replied. "And it does seem rather familiar."

"Okay, now for the last trial," I said.

"Your last trial is to leave this temple," came the response. The orb flew into my bracelet and lit it up in a bright purple hue.

"It can't be that easy. It's never that easy," I commented. I stepped up to the door and opened the lock. I expected the gold light from before and now six streams of purple, but that wasn't even close to what happened. A bright blue light shone from the edges of the slot before the lock clicked open. A white light came through the door way when it opened. I stepped into it and found myself in a room with four exits. Again, white light shone from all four. "See? I knew it wouldn't be easy."

"It appears to be some sort of puzzle," Yami commented. "Maybe we are supposed to guess which way to go?"

"I think we are supposed to figure out which way to go," I said. Yami in his transparent form gave me a puzzling look. "Think about it, what have the other trials had in common? They all had a solution of some sort, a way to accomplish the task at hand. This is just another trial, so there has to be a solution. We just have to figure out what it is they want us to do."

"Let's see what happens when something goes through one of the doors," Yami suggested. I agreed and searched the ground for test subject. I picked up a small rock and chucked it through one of the doors. I heard a clattering behind me and when I turned around I saw the rock I had just thrown sitting by my feet.

"Well, that didn't work," I said dully. I examined the doors carefully and saw star shapes etched into the stone frame. "I wonder what those mean."

"I thought this seemed familiar," Yami spoke up. "This is similar to the trap Noah put me and Yugi into while we were in his virtual world!"

"Seriously? How do we beat it?" I asked.

"The stars represented a monster level and the door was guarded by a monster of that level. Yugi figured out to summon a monster in order to defeat the guard and we were able to move on," Yami explained. "There's more to it though. We had to go through the monster levels in order to get out."

"Sounds good. Let's try it out," I said as I stepped up to the lowest level door, which was two. "I summon Koumori Dragon!"

As soon as my dragon appeared the other monster appeared as well. My monster destroyed the Dark Bat that appeared and the white light vanished to reveal a passage to the next room. We hurried through the short hallway and emerged into the next room.

"Now, level three," Yami declared.

"But all that's here is level four," I stated. All four passages, including the one we had come in through bore four stars. One door did have something different, a single square under the row of stars. "I think it's that one. I summon Twin-Headed Behemoth!"

My next monster was called forth, but in that instant the square above the door began to glow and a large hole appeared beneath us. I landed hard on my back in a room similar to the one we had just been in. I looked at the doors and they didn't match any of the previous patterns.

"Are you alright?" Yami asked as I picked myself up. I nodded a yes and asked what had happened. "It must have been equipped with a trap, in this case it was Trap Hole. We need to be more careful this time."

"So now which way?" I wondered. I looked at the different patterns and saw they all had level three monsters and two traps, except for one that had three traps. "This one then. First, I'll activate Heavy Storm to take care of the trap cards. Then, I summon Spirit Ryu and discard two dragons from my hand and increase it's attack by 2000."

The next monster had been Giant Soldier of Stone and it had a defense double than the attack of my Spirit Ryu. But with it's special ability, I grew my dragon to 3000 and it wiped the stone giant away. We continued on to another five rooms before we got to one final door.

"There's only one door here," Yami commented. "This must be the exit."

"Right. Whoa, that's a level twelve monster," I said. I glanced quickly at my duel disk and noticed that I was running low on cards. "I'm going to need everything I've got for this one. I activate Polymerization and fuse Dark Magician with Buster Blader!"

The monster that came out of the door was none other than the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. I had several dragons in my graveyard from the previous rooms so my Dark Paladin had plenty of attack power. It finished off the opposing monster without trouble and we moved on through the door. Upon entering, a bright light forced my eyes shut. It became fainter after a minute and I looked at our new locale.

"Brian, we're back in the main room," Yami informed me. "Now we can leave and save the others!"

"Yeah, and this time Marik won't know what he's up against," I replied as the two of us made our way to the large doors of the mysterious chapel.

* * *

Notes to Reviewers

**Reiji Harushima Dai:** Thank you for reading my work. I'm glad that you like my style of writing. My original plot line didn't exactly stay, but I'll have a completely original one in the sequel.


	16. Final Battle

Okay, last chapter was kinda strange, but I was in one of those moods. If you knew me personally, you'd know I get mysterious like that on occasion. Anyway, expect these next few to take a little while. School schedules are made by monkeys and I don't have much time to write. Right now I'm expecting maybe one more chapter after this then it will be over…or will it? Creepy, huh?

Chapter 16: Final Battle

"How long is this thing?" Yami's question echoed through my mind. After leaving the Shrine of Trials, we found the bridge outside had been magically rebuilt. I had been running down the length of it for thirty minutes now. The bridge seemed to stretch on for miles and there was no end in sight. There were no land marks of any kind on either side of the bridge, and now we couldn't even see the shrine behind us.

"This is ridiculous!" I shouted. I came to a halt and sat on the ground, breathing heavily. "This is getting us nowhere…"

"We can't give up," Yami told me. "Everyone who was taken by Marik is counting on us, not to mention our friends back home."

"I know, but I wish it wasn't this hard," I replied. I knew I was whining, but what else could I do? Nothing that Yami and I had accomplished so far had brought us any closer to even finding them. For all we knew, Marik could be back in the real world tormenting the others. The thoughts running through my mind frustrated me to no end.

"Well, try to keep moving. I'm sure we'll find them eventually," he encouraged me. I pulled myself to my feet and continued walking on my original course. Another hour passed and we finally caught sight of the end of the bridge.

"It's about time," I said a little angrily. "I wish the person who created the Shadow Realm was here so I could hit him with something…hard."

"There's another building up ahead," Yami pointed out. "That may be where Yugi and the others are."

"That's what you said about the Shrine of Trials," I sighed. "Ah well, let's go in anyway."

We wandered inside the structure and found the walls decorated in hieroglyphics. The main chamber appeared to be designed to resemble an Egyptian burial chamber, except there was no sarcophagus. We examined the room before moving on to another where we found what we were looking for.

"Yugi!" Yami cried out. I rushed to his side and examined his unconscious body.

"I think he's alive, but just barely," I reported.

"Hurry, put the puzzle around his neck," he commanded. I complied and soon Yami had taken control of the body. He checked his deck and duel disk and found that both were still intact.

"Here, take these," I said. I handed him Obelisk and Slifer from my pocket. "They're too powerful for me to use safely. Besides, neither of them are dragons."

"But you won these cards, they're rightfully yours," he told me. I denied the offer several times before he agreed to take them back. "Alright, now lets find the others and get out of here."

"That won't be so easy, Pharaoh," came an all too familiar evil voice. We turned back to the entrance of the room to see Marik standing in the doorway blocking the only exit. "You pulled quite a stunt getting the Millennium Puzzle away from me, as well as two Egyptian god cards. Both of you have been quite the thorn in my side. Now it's time to remove that thorn."

"You think you can beat both of us?" I challenged. I felt a wave of determination come from my companion and I knew we were thinking the same thing, one final duel to save the world.

"Dueling you two is merely a formality," Marik laughed. At that instant, all three duel disks activated simultaneously. "Now say good bye once and for all!"

"My move first," I declared. "I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode and set one card face down. That's all for now."

"I summon Feral Imp in defense mode and place two cards face down," Yami stated. By the look on his face, his hand wasn't very good.

"Well then, I will set one monster face down and activate The Dark Door to prevent any of us from attacking with more than one monster," Marik said as he made his move.

"For my next move, I play Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress in defense mode," I informed them. "And I'll play Stamping Destruction to destroy your magic card and inflict 500 points of damage to your life points. As for your monster, Kaiser Sea Horse will wipe the floor with it!"

"Exactly what I wanted you to do. You've activated my Morphing Jar's effect!" Marik laughed. "Morphing Jar forces all of us to discard our hands and draw five new cards."

My attack gave me a better hand, something Marik probably wasn't expecting. "Before I end my turn, I'll play Graceful Charity."

"Now you'll suffer, Marik. I sacrifice Feral Imp to summon Curse of Dragon!" came Yami's next move. "With no monsters to protect you, you're wide open for an attack! Curse of Dragon, attack with Dragon Flame!"

I grinned as the attack brought Marik down to 5500. Everything was working in our favor and, if our luck held out, we would soon win.

"I'll set one card face down and summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode," Marik said with an evil grin. I could tell he was planning something. "Now Makyura will rid me of that Winged Dragon."

I had lost one monster but my Kaiser Sea Horse held a strong presence on the field. After drawing, I held my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and my graveyard had Winged Dragon, which had just been destroyed, and Element Dragon and Koumori Dragon that had been discarded earlier. Summoning my dragon of darkness would be impossible at the moment though. I did, however, have another ace that I could play.

"With my Kaiser Sea Horse's effect I can summon a light monster with only one tribute," I explained. "I'll use that ability now and summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"Too bad such a powerful monster can't be used," Marik said. "Activate Gravity Bind!"

"My turn now," Yami declared. "I play Swords of Revealing Light!"

"Stalling won't help you Pharaoh," Marik cackled. "Your Egyptian god monsters won't help you, even if you could summon them. Hmm…I'll play Jam Breeding Machine and finish this turn."

"I hope Yami has some sort of plan," I thought. "That Gravity Bind is holding everyone's stronger monsters in place, but Marik is also affected by it and his Winged Dragon of Ra won't do any good. Neither will Obelisk or Slifer, if Yami can summon them. If Marik wants to win he'll have to use his god card, but it can't attack…unless he knows something we don't."

"Hurry up you foolish mortal!" Marik snarled. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

"Fine then, I summon Masked Dragon in attack mode!" I proclaimed. Masked Dragon wasn't strong enough to be held my Gravity Bind, but Marik's monster had a higher attack power. "I'll finish without anything more."

"For my move, I summon Kuriboh in defense mode," Yami said with a grin. I gave him a funny look and wondered why he was playing such a weak monster in such an important duel. "Then I'll end my turn."

"Look at the Pharaoh hiding behind a furry rodent," Marik commented. "I'll sacrifice my Makyura and the newly created Slime Token to summon The Masked Beast Des Guardia!"

"Marik has something up his sleeve, I can feel it," I thought. I looked at my hand and saw that I was one step closer to summoning my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, I had drawn Red-Eyes Black Chick. There was nothing I could accomplish yet so I passed my turn back to Yami.

"For my turn, I use my two face down cards," Yami explained. "First, the magic card Multiply will make copies of Kuriboh, then I'll use the Black Luster Ritual and sacrifice three Kuribohs and Curse of Dragon to call forth the Black Luster Soldier!"

"Well, I guess he did have something planned," I thought to myself. But I was surprised even more when he sacrificed his last Kuriboh to summon Dark Magician Girl, which gained 300 attack points from the Dark Magician he discarded to his graveyard when I attacked the Morphing Jar.

Marik passed his turn easily enough, only letting himself draw a card and his Jam Breeding Machine spit out another Slime Token. For my turn I placed Armed Dragon LV3 in defense mode and switched my Masked Dragon to the same.

"For my turn I'll play Card Destruction," Yami declared. I looked into my hand at my Darkness Dragon and greatly wished he hadn't played that card. "Now I'll play Monster Reborn to revive Obelisk the Tormentor!"

I watched the giant come forth from the shadows, a former enemy was now my best friend in the world. "Way to go, Yami!" I cheered to my comrade.

"It's a shame that you summoned a useless creature, you fools," Marik laughed. "My Gravity Bind holds any monster whose level is four or above and keeps them from attacking. Obelisk the Tormenter is level twelve!"

"Don't worry Yami," I said after looking at the cards in my hand. "I have a plan."

"Your 'plans' won't work," Marik said. "I play Double Spell. All I have to do is discard one magic card from my hand so I can activate any magic card already in my opponent's graveyard. I choose to use the Pharaoh's Monster Reborn. And now watch as I call upon the unstoppable power of The Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"Nice try Marik," Yami said. "Your god monster draws its attack and defense from the monsters you use for the summon. You didn't use any and that means it has no strength at all."

"I see you paid attention to our last duel," Marik retorted. "But Ra has an ability that you haven't seen yet. Activate Point-to-Point Transfer!" We could do nothing but watch as Marik's life points dropped to 1 and his god grew to 5499, stronger than any other monsters on the field. "Now I'll use its ability of Instant Attack! This allows me to attack all of your monsters and your life points at the same time!"

The god attacked blasting away all of our monsters and inflicting enough damage to finish Yami and leave me at only 2 life points. I looked down at my hand after I drew my next card. There was only one choice to make, and I hoped it would work.

"I admit, Marik, you've almost won and right now I'm at a disadvantage," I said semi-calmly. "But I still have one more trick to show you, a monster that is the signal of the last move. I remove my Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the duel to call forth Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End!"

"Ha! That monster is worthless compared to my Winged Dragon of Ra," Marik sneered. "It's also held by my Gravity Bind."

"That's correct, but I don't plan on attacking with my new monster," I stated. "I'll play Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my life points by 1000. Now I'll use those 1000 life points to activate Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect. It destroys all cards on the field and in both of our hands."

"Now all I have to do is summon another monster and finish you off," Marik laughed.

"Wrong," I told him. "The effect also gives you 300 points of damage for every card that was destroyed. You only had 1 life point left and that means you lose!"

"No!" Marik cried. "I was winning! You cheated! There's no way you could have beaten my Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"You lost Marik," Yami told him. "Now you're going to give up your Millennium Items and your Egyptian god card as well as all the souls you've taken."

"You'll never get them!" Marik yelled. He opened a portal to try to escape but I trapped him with my Millennium Bracelet. He struggled against me but I held fast.

"Marik, you're going to pay for everyone you've hurt," I said. I felt a surge of power welling up in my bracelet. Six blue pentagon shapes grew from the bracelet and glowed brightly. Every other shape stopped at about a foot and the others grew to at least three feet. I figured this was the new power I had received earlier.

Yami approached Marik and took the Millennium Rod and Ring from him and pulled the Winged Dragon of Ra from his deck. As soon as Yami was out of the way, a beam of white light shone from my hand and connected with Marik. He struggled against it and yelled out in pain but it wasn't long before his body became unconscious. A few seconds after he fell, I too slipped into darkness.


	17. Awakening

Well, this is it, the final chapter. Took me long enough didn't it? Well, it would take you a long time too if you were in college and had a girlfriend. Anyway, this is the last chapter. When you're done reading this, go read 'Eternal Love' and wait for the sequel. I can't believe that after 16 chapters and 216 hits there's only 4 reviews. You guys make me sad. (cries)

Chapter 17: Awakening

"Marik!" I shouted. I sat up suddenly and became extremely light headed half a second later. A soft hand touched my shoulder and gently pushed me back down.

"Hush. It's over now. You need to rest," a girl's voice said.

"T-Téa?" I stuttered. My voice sounded weak and my throat hurt when I spoke.

"Yes, Brian, it's me," came Téa's sweet response. "I'm glad that you're alright. You've been out for a day and a half."

"What happened?" I asked. "I was battling Marik and then…I don't remember. Where am I?"

"I can answer that last one," she replied. "You're in my bedroom. Everyone else is here too. I'm sure they'll be happy to know that you're okay. You did save the world, you know."

"I guess," I said. I tried to laugh but it turned into a cough. What had happened that made me so weak?

"Hey, he's awake?" I heard someone ask. I wasn't sure but it sounded like Yugi. "Why didn't you tell us Téa?"

"He just woke up and he's a little disoriented," Téa explained. "I think you should get Yami to come in and explain what happened."

"What are you talking about? Yugi is Yami," I questioned. I looked over and briefly saw Yugi as he left the room.

"A lot has happened. You'll see in minute," Téa assured me. A moment later, Yugi returned to the room with an older version of himself. "Brian, this is Yami, the ancient Pharaoh from Egypt."

"How is this possible?" I questioned as I sat up again. "I thought you only existed in the Millennium Puzzle and whomever wore it."

"Yes, that was the case," Yami replied. "When I recovered the Millennium Rod and Ring from Marik, my spirit was separated and transferred to a new vessel."

"So that's it huh? It's all over now?" I asked. Yami replied with a nod. "Wait, what about Mai and Bakura?"

"I released Mai's soul before we left and she appears to be fine, a little freaked out, but otherwise fine," Yami explained. "Bakura, on the other hand, was no where to be found."

"What do you mean?" I questioned. "He was sent to the Shadow Realm. His soul should be there somewhere."

"Yes. But think, if it is there, where is his body?" Yami responded. I was fairly new to the Shadow Realm's strength but I knew he was right.

"What now then?" I asked.

"Now, you rest," Téa told me as she pushed me back down. She then kissed me on the cheek and left the room with Yami. I fell asleep a few minutes later.

* * *

I woke up after two or three hours and made my way downstairs. I found everyone in the living room, Yugi playing a game of Duel Monsters with Tristan while Serenity watched, Yami and Téa talking about something I couldn't hear, and Joey and Mai sitting pretty close on the couch. I walked in and sat down next to Téa who greeted me cheerfully.

"Hey, you. Feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything's still a little hazy but I'm fine," I assured her. I ran my hand through my hair and that's when I noticed it. "Hey! Where's my Millennium Bracelet?"

"Don't worry, it's safe," Yami said. "I kept the puzzle and put the rod, ring, necklace, and bracelet under heavy security."

"What? Heavy security?" I wondered out loud.

"Kaiba's got 'em," Joey spoke up.

"You gave them to Kaiba?" I half shouted. "He's gonna melt them down for money…more money!"

"After everything that happened during the tournament, Kaiba sort of acknowledges the existence of the power of the Millennium Items," Yugi explained without looking up from his and Tristan's game.

"We must retrieve them soon, Lord Yami," a voice spoke up. Everyone stopped what they were doing to find the source of the voice.

"What are you doing here?" I asked pointing at Shadi.

"It is time to complete your revival, Lord Yami," Shadi said ignoring me completely.

"So it seems," Yami replied. He sounded sad. His eyes were closed and his head was bent down as if he were thinking hard. "Let's do it then."

"Wait. What's going on here?" I asked. It seemed that Yami and Shadi knew but they didn't say anything. Everyone else looked as confused as I felt.

"Come, I will explain on the way," Shadi said to us.

Together, Yami, Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan, and I followed Shadi outside and through the city to the Kaiba Corp building. We walked straight in and went up to Kaiba's office, not being stopped by a single security officer once. Kaiba's office was just as plush and expensive as I had expected it to be.

"So, you're here for the items, I take it?" Kaiba asked as if he regarded us as human.

"Yes, that is correct Kaiba," Yami answered.

"Whatever, follow me," Kaiba ordered. We followed Kaiba down the hall to a room marked high security. "This is it. The items are in this safe."

Kaiba opened the lock and Yami reached in and took the items out one by one. He placed the necklace and ring around his neck and held the rod in his hand. He then handed me the bracelet which I looked down at for a few moments but didn't put it on.

"Something wrong, Brian?" Téa asked me.

"It's just…I don't know if I can take this back," I told everyone. Yami was the only one to ask me why. "I may have been destined to have this, but it's just put people in danger, especially Téa. I don't want anyone to get hurt anymore."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Yugi told me. "There were times I wanted to give up the puzzle as well. But, in the end, I could never bring myself to do it."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't run away from this," I said.

"You won't have to," Shadi explained. "Yami is to take all of the items now."

"You have recovered the other two then?" Yami asked, receiving a nod from Shadi. "Let's do this then."

I watched curiously as Shadi placed the items in a circle on the floor with Yami in the center. When he placed the eighth item, they all began to glow. They floated into the air and light came from them and shone on Yami, making him glow like a Christmas tree. The light became too bright to look at and I was forced to turn away. The light faded and when I looked up I found myself to be in a place other than Kaiba's office building. I looked down and realized I was standing in sand. I also noticed I was wearing a black robe and there was a long knife tucked into my belt, the same blade that I picked up during the trials.

"What's going on here?" I wondered out loud. There was no one else around so I was talking to myself. There were a bunch of weapons lying about, mostly swords, shields, and spears. "Was this a battle field? I don't see any bodies…what's going on?"

I looked into the sky and saw dark clouds similar to the ones in the Shadow Realm. I suddenly felt uneasy and that's when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around and looked directly at Téa. I turned back and I saw Yami again and I was also back in the Kaiba Corp building in my regular clothes.

"Brian, are you okay?" Téa questioned.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Yugi added.

"I…think I did," I replied. "It was strange. I was in another time or something."

"It seems that you too have ties to the Pharaoh," Shadi stated.

"Yes, he was my bodyguard," Yami said. "We fought many battles together."

"Whoa…seriously?" Joey murmured.

"Yes, and his fighter from the Shadow Realm was Buster Blader," Yami continued.

"I saw a battle field I think," I said. "That might have been a memory from the past. Maybe this ritual is causing the same effect on me."

"That battle…" Yami murmured. "I'm not going to make the same mistake again. I know what I have to do."

"Do about what?" Tristan asked.

"Brian, that battle field you saw was the last memory of Skarra," Yami explained. "In that battle, my kingdom was lost and he lost his greatest treasure."

"He lost the bracelet," I said with some doubt.

"No, he was not the original holder," Yami said. He then stepped forward and took mine and Téa's hands and placed them in one another. I looked up from our hands to her face and she blushed brightly. "This is your destiny. Fate has given you another chance, this time it will be fulfilled."

"What's going to happen to you now Yami?" Yugi asked curiously.

"I have made a choice," he replied. "I have taken the power of all the Millennium Items into my body and I will take the Egyptian god cards and seal myself into the Shadow Realm. That way no one else will suffer from the dangers that lie within."

"What about the items themselves?" I wondered.

"They are powerless now, no one will come for them. It will be safe for you to hang onto them," Yami explained.

"Well, I think Yugi and Brian should take them," Tristan suggested. "They're the ones that were supposed to have them in the first place."

"Thanks but no thanks. Besides I got my jewel right here," I said giving Téa's hand a squeeze. "Yugi can go ahead and take them. Maybe put them on display in your game shop. They are part of the origin of Duel Monsters after all."

"I guess I should take my leave," Yami said. He turned around and opened a portal to the Shadow Realm. "There should be no more trouble after I'm gone so don't worry about anything."

"Yeah…no trouble," Yugi muttered sadly but Yami was already gone.

"Hey, c'mon Yug! We're gettin' outta here!" Joey called over his shoulder. He and Tristan were already out the door and heading down the hall.

"Yugi!" Kaiba said, stopping Yugi, Téa, and I before we left. "I'll have the items sent to your house this evening."

"Thanks, Kaiba," Yugi replied. Kaiba responded with his standard 'whatever' before he was out of earshot. "I guess Kaiba's not all that bad."

"Yeah, if you like grumpy old men at a young age," I joked. The three of us laughed for a second.

"So, what happens to us now?" Téa asked. "We've been running around saving the world for the past year now."

"I guess we go about our lives," I said. "You and me get to build a stronger relationship, Yugi gets a normal life for a change, Joey and Mai will most likely hook up, and Duke and Tristan will fight over Serenity. How that all adds up to normal is beyond me."

"We'll figure it out," Téa laughed. We caught up with Joey and Tristan and headed out of Kaiba Corp laughing and giggling like the friends we were.

"Off to our new lives," I thought. "Ready to play our cards against whatever life summons. Let's do this!"


End file.
